Tourist complaints in Korea have hit a record high this year, data showed Sunday, with problems ranging from reckless taxi driving to overcharging at shopping malls. A total of 1,753 complaints were filed nationwide between January and July this year, already surpassing the 1,744 cases reported last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). The growing number of complaints has raised calls for Korea to come up with measures to improve tourism services, particularly as foreign visitors have complained of excessive accommodation cancellation fees and other issues during major events, such as K-pop supergroup BTS' concerts. According to the data, the total number of complaints from foreign visitors fell during the COVID-19 pandemic but has risen steadily since 2023 and reached 1,744 last year, with the figure for this year already surpassing the annual total of 2025 in just seven months. By region, Seoul recorded the most complaints at 665, followed by the southeastern city of Busan with 594, Incheon with 176 and the southern resort island of Jeju with 15