Overseas spending by South Korean tourists hit a 12-year high in 2018 amid a spike in the number in local low cost carriers. <br />The Bank of Korea said Wednesday that they spent some 31 billion U.S. dollars last year, the highest since 2006. <br />However, last year's growth rate was the lowest since the height of the global financial crisis in 2009 at a mere zero-point-nine percent.<br />The amount of money spent per capita slightly decreased, despite an increase in the number of travelers vacationing overseas. <br />The report attributed those numbers to a shift in travel culture,… where Koreans tend to fly more frequently to closer destinations such as Japan and Southeast Asia than travelling all the way to Europe or the U.S. <br />
