As Foreign Demand Rises... Jeju Air Hongdae Hotel Shows Recovery Trend

Room Occupancy Rate at 83.5%... Foreign Guest Ratio Over 80%

Jeju Air announced on the 11th that the ‘Holiday Inn Express Seoul Hongdae,’ which celebrated its 5th anniversary since opening, is showing a rising performance trend despite the challenges of COVID-19. The company attributes this to increased foreign demand.

In line with growing air travel demand and the spread of individual travel trends, the company entered the hotel business in September 2018. Although it achieved profitability in 2019, it experienced a downturn due to COVID-19.

This year, it has shown a rapid recovery, recording sales of 7 billion KRW in the first half. This surpasses not only the 2.3 billion KRW sales during the same period last year but also the 4.5 billion KRW sales in the first half of 2019, when it first recorded net profit.

The company believes that the increase in foreign demand due to the recovery of overseas travel demand has had an impact. The accessibility provided by the direct connection between the airport railroad departing from Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport and the hotel, as well as its proximity to popular tourist spots such as Yeonnam-dong and Hongdae Entrance, also played a role.

Until August this year, the hotel’s average room occupancy rate was approximately 83.5%, approaching the 2019 occupancy rate, which was close to 90%. The proportion of foreign guests has also risen to the 80% range this year. The share of guests from Greater China, which accounted for 53.7% of total users in 2019 before COVID-19, dropped to 6% last year but increased to 33.7% this year. Japanese guests have also shown a recovery trend, with 5.6% in 2019, 2% last year, and 4.7% this year.

A Jeju Air official said, “As international flights expand due to the reopening, demand for travel to Korea by foreigners is increasing. We will actively attract foreign tourists through various promotions linked with air travel and customized services.”

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