Statistics compiled by the association's Bangkok office showed that the most popular destinations for South Koreans were Asia (72.6 percent), the Americas (8.1 percent), Europe (5.8 percent) and the Pacific (4.5 percent).
Last year, 2.96 million and 1.74 million South Koreans visited China and Japan, respectively.
In Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom were the first and second most popular destinations with 141,606 and 111,845 arrivals, respectively, the association said.
South Korea's inbound tourism sector was also on the rise with 6.02 million arrivals in 2005, up 3.5 per cent on 2004 and passing the 6 million mark for the first time.
EU wants an end to US discrimination
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on the US government last week to end its travel restrictions on citizens from 10 EU member states, warning the restrictions could damage trade ties. In a speech at the University of Pittsburgh, the EU chief said Washington had to ``end this situation of discrimination against the new member states.'' A text of the speech was released by the EU in Brussels.
For three years, EU officials have backed calls from the 10 new members that they be included in the US visa waiver program, which would allow their citizens to visit the US for three months without a visa. The 10 new members -- mostly eastern European countries plus Malta and Cyprus -- joined the bloc in 2004.
Only Slovenia enjoys benefits under the visa-waiver scheme. The US says the other nine new EU members failed to meet all US criteria for joining the program, including a 3 percent threshold for rejected visa applicants. Barroso said, however, that the restrictions would damage business.
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