'Yukeo' Returning by Air... Resumption of Chartered Flights for Chinese Group Tours

Ban on Group Tours to Korea Due to 2017 THAAD Retaliation
Charter Flights Between Jeju and Zhengzhou Resume from November
"Popular for Visa-Free Travel... Expected to Recover to 2016 Levels"

As the Chinese government allows group tours to South Korea for the first time in over six years since the 'THAAD retaliation,' the influx of Chinese tourists continues, and charter flights to Jeju will begin operating from next month.

According to the travel industry on the 23rd, China Western Airlines will operate charter flights twice a week on the Jeju?Zhengzhou, Henan Province route starting November 3. This marks the end of a 6-year and 10-month ban on group tours to South Korea imposed as retaliation for the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) in 2017.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Starting with group tours to Zhengzhou, it is expected that charter flights departing from other Chinese cities will follow. After Zhengzhou, charter flights on the Hefei and Fuzhou routes are also scheduled to operate twice a week from next month.

From December, the Guangzhou route is preparing to operate four times a week, and charter flights for group tours to Chongqing and Chengdu, Qingdao, Changsha, Wuhan, which are among China's most populous cities, are also expected to continue.

In May, the direct Jeju?Beijing route, which had been suspended since February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed operations after more than three years. Jeju Island plans to increase direct routes to 17 regions with 157 weekly flights by the end of this year through close cooperation with domestic and international airlines and local partners.

Including the currently planned direct routes and group tour charter flights, it is expected that by the end of the year, groups from 22 Chinese cities will visit Jeju.

A travel industry official told Yonhap News, "Jeju is one of the most popular travel destinations for Chinese tourists because it allows visa-free tourism," adding, "We expect group tours from China to rapidly recover to the level of 2016, when they peaked, by early next year."

In December 2016, when Chinese group tours were active, Jeju Airport operated flights to 27 Chinese cities with 169 weekly flights, attracting about 3.06 million Chinese visitors and enjoying its peak boom.

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