Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul is crowded with visitors, July 29. Yonhap

Foreign tourists visiting Korea spend more money on eating Korean fried chicken than anything else during their stay outside Seoul, BC Card said Sunday.

The country's largest payment processing company said Korean fried chicken was the most popular dish among 15 Korean foods picked as local delicacies for their respective regions.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization jointly listed the 15 specialties this summer for six regions outside the country's capital.

The lists included a total of 33 dishes, snacks, ingredients and alcoholic beverages that represent the culinary traditions of each region.

The six regions were northeastern, central, southeastern and southwestern Korea, west of Seoul and the country's southernmost Jeju Island.

Korean fried chicken, picked as the dish most representative of southeastern Korea's Daegu, ranked top in terms of payments international tourists made on local delicacies for three years from 2022 to 2024, BC Card said.

Daegu is home to multiple indigenous fried chicken franchises.

The company did not provide other details, such as sales figures.

It went on to say that jajangmyeon, a Korean-style Chinese noodle topped with black bean sauce, ranked No. 2 for the same three years.

Jajangmyeon was listed as one of the most representative dishes of the west of Seoul region, or the area encompassing Gyeonggi Province and Incheon. Incheon is home to the country's largest Chinatown.

Soy sauce-marinated crab / gettyimagesbank

Also from the area west of Seoul, soy sauce-marinated crab secured third place, moving up from sixth in 2022.

BC Card assessed soy sauce-marinated crab's advance in ranking is noteworthy as it was not among the commonly tried foods in the past due to its taste and appearance, among other reasons.

"The increase in sales of soy sauce-marinated crab is linked to the global popularity of dramas, movies and other Korean media, which feature a variety of Korean dishes and prompt international viewers' curiosity," BC Card said.

Among other specialties that were less popular in the past but are quickly gaining international tourists' attention were soft tofu from northeastern Korea and pork rice soup from southeastern Korea.

BC Card said more foreign tourists are eating local specialties and that their average spending on these foods was 4.8 times higher than those of Koreans who are native to corresponding regions.

The company also said foreign tourists who are familiar with using means of transportation to rural areas, such as KTX bullet trains and rental cars, spent 50 percent or higher on average on eating local delicacies in Korea compared to those who are not.

"The finding on (spending trends for) local delicacies show the international consumers' preference in Korean food is changing over time," BC Card said, adding, "We will spare no efforts to share relevant data to help the government to bolster tourism."