South Korea’s largest theme park Everland, owned by the country’s biggest conglomerate Samsung Group, was the most popular attraction site in the country last year with 6,965,311 visitors stopping by, a survey showed on Wednesday.

According to figures released by Korea Culture & Tourism Institute on Wednesday, Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi province, attracted the most number of visitors from home and abroad last year, becoming the most popular destination for a second consecutive year. Total 6,965,311 people visited the theme park, the highest number of all other sites, and October was the most-crowded month, the institute said. But the number of visitors to the amusement park last year dropped 6.2 percent year over year.

Everland, which is located within a 1.488 million square meter resort area, has a number of attractions including a Global Faire zone themed as major cities around the world, and other amusement facilities with various themes and zones such as American Adventure, Magic Land, European Adventure, and Zootopia.

The second-most visited attraction in Korea last year was Gyeongbok Palace with 6,020,118 visitors passing through its doors, according to institute figures. Compared to 2015, the palace received 18.9 percent more visitors last year, raising the ranking by three notches.

Korea International Exhibition Center (Kintex) in Goyang came in as the third-most visited place in Korea with 5,862,316 visitors, followed by Suncheon Bay Wetland Reserve with 5,432,081 visitors.

Imjingak Resort, near the demilitarized zone on the border between South and North Korea that are technically at war, was the fifth-most visited spot. It won the title of the second-most popular tourist site in 2014 and 2015.

Among the top 10 popular spots emerged new attractions - Nami Island with 3,279,929 visitors to rank eighth, Seongsan Ilchulbong in Jeju with 3,169,913 to rank ninth, and Kangwon Land Casino with 3,169,656 visitors to rank tenth.

By Shin Ik-su

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