In the 10-month period, Japanese tourists to South Korea totaled 1.90 million, slightly up from the 1.89 million recorded during the same period a year earlier.

For all of 2017, the number of Japanese visitors to South Korea is expected to edge up 0.8 percent on-year to slightly over 2.3 million.

Industry sources said Japan has emerged as an attractive tourist destination for South Koreans, while Japanese citizens remain reluctant to visit here amid security fears sparked by North Korean provocations.

According to a report by the World Economic Forum, Japan's tourism competitiveness ranks fourth in the world after Spain, France and Germany.

A recent KTO survey showed nearly 30 percent of South Korean outbound travelers this year have visited Japan, accounting for the largest portion.

Also responsible for the jump in the number of South Korean visitors to Japan were the prolonged weakness of the Japanese currency and South Korea's long holidays in May and October, the sources said.

In contrast, North Korea's missile and nuclear tests have had a negative impact on the number of Japanese visitors to South Korea, they added.

North Korea has launched more than 20 missiles this year and detonated an alleged hydrogen bomb in early September, sharply raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)