Chinese tourists move to a Lotte duty-free shop in Jamsil, eastern Seoul, on Dec. 2, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The numbers of travelers to Japan, the United States and the Middle East through Incheon International Airport have fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, while the number of those heading to China still remains sluggish, data showed Sunday.
In the first 11 months, the numbers of passengers who traveled to the U.S., Japan, and the Middle East through the Incheon airport more than doubled to 5.16 million, 12.1 million and 960,000, respectively, from the same period of last year, according to Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC).
Travel demand on routes to the three regions already exceeded the levels of 2019 before COVID-19 hit the airline industry in early 2020. But demand on routes to China stays at 37 percent of the 2019 levels, the IIAC said.
The number of passengers who traveled to China via the Incheon airport stood at a mere 4.62 million in the 11-month period.
“With the resumption of China’s group tours to South Korea, travel demand from China (to Korea) is expected to recover from 2024,” an IIAC official said.
In August, China lifted the ban on group tours to South Korea, ending a six-year hiatus caused by frayed relations following the deployment of a U.S. defense system to the South.
Travel demand on other routes to Southeast Asia, Africa, Southwest Asia, and Oceania regions recovered to more than 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
From January to November, the number of international passengers who traveled through the Incheon airport reached 50.5 million, or 78 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the IIAC said.
(Yonhap)
