International passenger traffic at Jeju has hit an all-time high, but the number of Korean tourists visiting the island has fallen. Foreign travelers are filling seats that domestic visitors are leaving empty.
International passengers at Jeju International Airport reached 3,031,529 as of the 10th, already surpassing last year's full-year total of 3,029,280, according to Korea Airports Corporation on the 15th. It marks a record high for the second consecutive year.
From January to September this year, passengers from Taiwan jumped 60.1% to 495,000, those from Japan rose 59.6% to 216,000 and those from Singapore climbed 65.1% to 126,000. Traffic from China, including Hong Kong and Macao, also increased 17.3% to 2,053,936. International flights rose 24.3% to 18,023 this year from 14,501 last year.
Domestic tourism, by contrast, is moving in the opposite direction. The number of Korean visitors to Jeju this year totaled 8,940,982 as of the 14th, down 377 from 8,941,359 a year earlier, according to the Jeju Tourism Association. While foreign visitors increased by 283,410, domestic numbers were essentially flat.
The decline has steepened this month. Through the 14th, domestic tourists numbered 442,145, down 14.1% from 514,847 in the same period last year. Even with foreign visitors up 29.2%, total arrivals fell 7.6%.
"For That Price, I'd Rather Go Abroad" — High Costs Turn Koreans Away
One reason Koreans are turning away from Jeju is that prices are not cheap. Persistent online complaints about costs, together with tourism offerings that fail to meet rising domestic expectations, have helped build sentiment summed up as: "For that price, I'd rather go abroad." What is new to foreign visitors can feel familiar and stale to Koreans, who already know the attractions. Partly because of the high costs, the decline in domestic tourism to Jeju has continued for four straight years, from 2023 through this year.
Overseas trips to destinations such as Japan, meanwhile, are seen as better value for money by Korean travelers. With the yen remaining weak, a growing perception has taken hold that a trip to Japan costs about the same as, or even less than, a trip to Jeju. The result is a paradox: foreign visitors are flocking to Jeju on the strength of the Korean culture boom, while Koreans themselves head to Japan and Southeast Asia.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the tourism industry point to a reduction in airline seats as the biggest cause of the domestic decline, but critics say the outflow of Korean visitors will be hard to stop unless the island improves both its price competitiveness and the appeal of its attractions.