Visitors to the National Museum of Korea are climbing sharply on the back of the global K-culture boom. More than 5 million people had visited the museum through August this year, reaching the milestone about six weeks earlier than last year, when annual cumulative visitors passed 5 million in October.
Cumulative visitors this year totaled 5,254,884 as of last month, the National Museum of Korea said on the 20th. That is 925,905 more than the 4,328,979 recorded in the same period a year earlier.
By month, visitors numbered 730,473 in January, 760,792 in February, 535,451 in March, 515,268 in April, 717,564 in May, 535,848 in June, 688,443 in July and 771,045 in August.
Domestic visitors accounted for 4,963,424, or about 94.5% of the total. Foreign visitors numbered 291,460 through last month, or about 5.55%. That figure was also up 143,817 from 147,643 in the same period last year.
The surge in July and August appears to reflect the peak school vacation season as well as growing interest among younger consumers in MU:DS, a line of cultural merchandise based on the collections of Korea's national museums.
MU:DS, a blend of "museum" and "goods," comprises products developed from the holdings of the National Museum of Korea and its regional affiliates. Sales reached about 21.8 billion won in the first half of this year, up roughly 90% from about 11.48 billion won a year earlier.
Given recent trends, most projections call for annual visitors to top 6 million for a second straight year after 2025. Some expect a record high.
