JEJU-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG=Yonhap News) South Korea's international airline traffic rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, partly on a rise in the number of flights to and from China, the government said Monday.

In the three months ended Sept. 30, the number of international flights to and from South Korea came to 98,113, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The ministry attributed the increase in part to this year's Asian Games held in the country's western port city of Incheon, noting the number of international flights to and from Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to the capital Seoul, rose over 8 percent on-year.

The rise, however, also comes amid a fast growing number of tourists from China.

The number of Chinese tourists to the country's southern resort island of Jeju alone jumped over tenfold from 175,000 in 2009 to over 1.81 million last year, the ministry said earlier.

Industry reports have said the total number of Chinese tourists to South Korea is expected to rise by an average 19.8 percent every year until 2020 when it will reach nearly 15 million.

"In addition, the number of international flights using the country's airspace spiked 17.3 percent on-year in the third quarter as the number of Chinese flag carriers passing through the country's airspace surged 37 percent," the ministry said in a press release.

The country's overall airline traffic rose 8.1 percent on-year to 164,384 in the July-September period as its domestic airline traffic gained 4.7 percent to 55,003 flights over the cited period.

bdk@yna.co.kr

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