The number of visitors at South Korea’s national parks continued to rise in 2025, extending the post-COVID recovery trend.

The Korea National Park Service reported that total visits to national parks nationwide reached 43.31 million last year, up 6.5 percent from 2024.

Park attendance had totaled 43.82 million in 2018 and 43.18 million in 2019, before dropping to 35.27 million in 2020 due to COVID-19. Numbers gradually recovered over the following years, reaching near prepandemic levels last year. The KNPS attributed the steady increase to growing public demand for rest and healing in nature.

Among the parks, Bukhansan recorded the highest number of visitors at 7.53 million, accounting for 17.4 percent of the total. It was followed by Gyeongju National Park, Hallyeohaesang National Park and Jirisan National Park.


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