Air Busan Counts Foreign Passengers to Jeju... 'Chinese' Ranked No. 1

Air Busan's data on foreign passengers using its domestic flights to Jeju from January to July this year revealed that Chinese nationals were the most numerous.

Among all foreign passengers who flew Air Busan's Jeju-bound flights departing from Busan and Gimpo between January and July this year, Chinese accounted for about 24%, the highest proportion, followed by Americans at approximately 17%.

Specifically, among Asian nationalities, Malaysians and Singaporeans ranked next after Chinese, while among non-Asian nationalities, Australians and Canadians followed Americans in number.

The ratio of Asian to non-Asian nationalities was about 6:4, indicating a relatively higher proportion of nearby Asian tourists, but tourists from the US, Europe, and other regions were also present in significant numbers.

These statistics are limited to foreign tourists who arrived in Jeju using Air Busan's domestic routes, not direct international flights to Jeju.

However, similar results were shown in recent statistics from the Jeju Tourism Association, which reported that among the total 303,364 foreign visitors arriving during the same period, 129,881 (43%) were Chinese, the largest group.

Air Busan (above), statistical data on the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Jeju from the Jeju Tourism Association.

Despite slow recovery due to the suspension of Chinese group tours amid COVID-19 and strained Korea-China relations, Chinese tourists remained the largest group visiting Jeju.

An Air Busan official stated, “In addition to the currently operated Chinese routes, if further route resumptions occur in the future, we expect an increase in tourists visiting Korea and Jeju ‘Youke’ tourists on dual itineraries linking Air Busan’s international and domestic routes.”

As of this year’s summer schedule, Air Busan operates 11.5 round-trip flights daily on the Busan-Jeju route and 7.2 round-trip flights daily on the Gimpo-Jeju route.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.