Vacationers move to a rental car parking lot after landing at Jeju International Airport, the gateway to Jeju Island, on July 10, 2021. (Yonhap)
JEJU, July 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The popularity of Jeju Island among domestic travelers does not appear to have cooled off despite the ongoing fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in South Korea and the government’s tougher social distancing rules, provincial and industry officials said Friday.
Despite a recent surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide, the number of visitors to Jeju has not shown a significant drop and a daily average of around 34,000 tourists arrive on the southern resort island these days, the officials said.
At the current pace, the monthly number of Jeju visitors is expected to exceed 1 million for the fourth consecutive month in July, they said, attributing the island’s steady popularity to the unabated travel demand from those in their 20s and 30s, commonly called the Generation MZ (millennials and web-savvy Generation Z).
The daily average of Jeju visitors had dropped about 16 percent from 40,550 in the last week of June to 34,040 in the July 5-11 week, apparently due to the start of the fourth wave of the pandemic.
This week, however, the daily average rebounded slightly to 35,449 — 36,585 on Monday, 33,350 on Tuesday, 35,035 on Wednesday and 36,825 on Thursday.
In contrast, the monthly number of Jeju visitors had plunged to 480,762 in March last year following the outbreak of COVID-19.
Industry officials said local tourists, including newlyweds, increasingly prefer Jeju as an alternative to overseas travel due to coronavirus-related international travel restrictions.
They also noted that more and more Generation MZers are flocking to Jeju to escape from COVID-19-related depression and enjoy mountaineering or the Olle walking trails.
“Generation MZers seem to cover the recent decline in Jeju tourism despite the recent resurgence of COVID-19,” an industry executive said.
“Golf course reservations fell nearly 50 percent compared to before the fourth wave, and advance reservations for accommodations and rental cars also fell. But MZers book accommodations or rental cars quickly and come to Jeju whenever they want to come,” the executive explained.
Vacationers enjoy swimming at Hyeopjae Beach on Jeju Island on July 10, 2021. (Yonhap)
As a large number of residents of the greater Seoul area, which account for approximately three-quarters of the nation’s daily new COVID-19 cases, fly to Jeju to enjoy entertainment facilities, the island’s authorities have already taken various preemptive measures.
The capital area is now under the toughest restrictions of Level 4.
For instance, the Jeju government has ordered the shutdown of all 1,356 entertainment facilities in the province, as adult entertainment establishments have reported 58 COVID-19 cases this month alone.
In addition, the provincial government said it will raise its social distancing scheme by one notch to Level 3 next week, under which private gatherings of five or more are banned and a 10 p.m. curfew is imposed on restaurants and cafes.
Level 3, the second highest in the nation’s four-tier social distancing system, is to take effect throughout Jeju at midnight Sunday, just one week after the province’s posture was elevated from the lowest Level 1 to Level 2.
“The number of infections traced to entertainment establishments and cases of virus transmissions from visitors are on the rise, posing persistent risks to local health authorities,” a provincial government official said.
(Yonhap)
