The number of annual foreign visitors to South Korea is projected to climb 64 percent, surpassing 20 million, in about five years, a private think tank report showed Sunday.

In a report by the Hyundai Economic Research Institute, research fellow Park Da-mi predicted that the number of foreign visitors to the country would reach 23 million in 2020, compared with an estimated 14 million in 2014.

The 2014 figure marked an all-time high in the number of inbound travelers, breaking the former record of 12.17 million in 2013. Park expected that the number would continuously increase over the next several years.

Park, in particular, cited the rapidly growing number of tourists from China and Southeast Asian countries. Accordingly to her forecast, tourists would account for about 65 percent, or 15 million, of the expected 23 million visitors in 2020.

The proportion of Asian tourists to South Korea increased by 6 percentage points over the past decade, from 50.5 percent in 2005 to 56.5 percent in 2014.

Out the of the estimated 23 million visitors in 2020, the number of tourists from developed countries and other emerging nations is projected to reach 7 million and 1 million, respectively, Park added.

The institute reiterated that it was necessary for the government to diversify tour products and raise the quality of products in order to increase the rate of return visits.

According to a study by a public company, inbound foreign tourists on average spent a record $901 on shopping when visiting Korea last year.

The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute has said that the findings are based on surveys of 9,062 visitors in the January-September period.

The state-run institute added that cosmetics, clothing and food were the top three items purchased by tourists. Meanwhile, expenditure on accommodation and food dropped because visitors spent an average of 6.1 days in the country in 2014, down from 6.9 days in 2013.

In terms of reasons for visiting, business trips fell to 19.6 percent from 23.3 percent, while leisure jumped to 57.9 percent from 47.7 percent.

“The weak Japanese yen did not discourage foreigners from coming in droves last year,” said the institute.

Around half of inbound tourists were from China, followed by visitors from Japan and the United States.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)