Korea last month received three times as many foreign visitors as it did a year earlier, after lifting quarantine measures including the seven-day quarantine mandate for arrivals.

The Korea Tourism Organization said on Wednesday that 263,986 foreigners visited the country in July, up 218 percent on-year.

Travelers wait at a check-in counter at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday.

By country, the largest number came from the U.S. (53,942), followed by Vietnam (18,867), the Philippines (18,146) and China (17,907).

The number of Koreans heading abroad last month also rose to more than 6.74 million, an increase of 561 percent from a year earlier.