Airports eye travel rebound induced by K-culture boom next year

Piggybacking on the global popularity of Korean culture led by K-pop and K-dramas, Korea Airports Corporation said Thursday it is going all out to attract more international travelers next year. “Welcoming 2023 and 2024 as the Visit Korea Year, we plan to bring in as much as 8.5m inbound travelers, 40% of the pre-pandemic level, by combining K-culture and tourism,” Korea Airports Corporation CEO Yoon Hyeong-jung said. Visit Korea Year is the government’s tourism promotion scheme to attract 30m international travelers and generate tourism related expenditure of $30b by 2027. Of the 14 airports operated by KAC, seven international airports including Gimpo, Gimhae, Jeju, Daegu and Chungju will be at the forefront of creating new flight routes and liaise tourism packages and K-pop concerts, Yoon said. In particular, Gimhae International Airport located in South Gyeongsang Province will step up to expand its routes to the western region of the US and Europe. KAC is seeking to provide incentives such as cutting airport charges and landing fees for long-haul airlines. In a move to bring back deep-pocketed Chinese tourists, who make up 40-45% of the its revenue, the company plans to visit Beijing Capital International Airport and other airports to as part of its marketing strategies. “At the same time, we will target emerging markets like Indonesia, where more than half of the population is in their 20s and 30s, and are active consumers of Hallyu content. Daegu International Airport can be the key hub for inbound tourists from Indonesia, once we create direct flights from Jakarta,” said Yoon.<br/>