Visitor spending jumps nearly 70% on-year, topping 1 trillion won ($724 million) for a fourth straight month Tourists shop at a cosmetics store in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, on Thursday. (Yonhap) Seoul welcomed a record 1.61 million foreign tourists in July, while their spending rose sharply to 1.07 trillion won, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday.Monthly spending by foreign visitors has now exceeded 1 trillion won for four consecutive months.The number of foreign tourists in July was up 20.8 percent from a year earlier and 5.2 percent from the previous month.Chinese tourists accounted for the largest share at 37.1 percent, followed by visitors from Japan at 15.8 percent, Taiwan at 12.4 percent and the United States at 7.2 percent.The cumulative number of foreign visitors from January through July reached 9.83 million, up 21.3 percent year on year.Spending on foreign cards grew far faster than visitor numbers. Overseas tourists' card spending in July surged 69.7 percent from a year earlier, while cumulative spending during the first seven months reached 6.69 trillion won, up 58.7 percent on-year.Tourist spending is also expanding beyond shopping to medical and wellness services and dining.Shopping accounted for the largest share of spending at 46.4 percent, followed by medical and wellness services at 24.2 percent and food and beverage at 13.2 percent.Spending on medical tourism and dining recorded particularly strong growth, rising 63.9 percent and 56.4 percent, respectively, according to the city government.Among Seoul's 25 districts, Gangnam-gu — home to a high concentration of cosmetic surgery clinics, luxury shopping malls, hotels and restaurants — accounted for the largest share of tourist spending at 29.4 percent.Jung-gu, home to major tourist destinations including Myeong-dong, Namdaemun Market and Namsan Seoul Tower, followed at 28.3 percent."We will expand attractive tourism content and nighttime tourism programs to make Seoul a city where visitors stay longer, experience more and want to return," a city official said.The city has been promoting nighttime tourism as part of its "3-3-7-7" campaign, which aims to attract 30 million foreign tourists, increase per-capita spending to 3 million won, extend the average stay to seven days and raise the revisit rate to 70 percent."What moves tourists and makes them want to return is not large-scale infrastructure, but thoughtful service on the ground," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said.Foreign visitors' spending at convenience stores in Seoul has also surged, with particularly strong growth in Seongsu-dong.According to data provided to The Korea Herald by BGF Retail, foreign-card sales at CU stores in Seongsu jumped 115.1 percent on-year in the first half.Seoul is also seeking to sustain the tourism momentum through large-scale incentive travel groups.In September, the city will welcome its second-largest incentive travel group, consisting of 1,400 visitors from India and organized by global nutrition company Herbalife. The group had initially considered Georgia as its destination but chose Seoul following two inspection trips in June and July, according to the city government.