Mainland Chinese tourists are staying away... Is travel between Taiwan and South Korea booming instead? Korea Tourism Organization: Limited flights are the biggest constraint

▲ Incheon International Airport in South Korea. (Photo / Reporter Li Zhongquan)

Reported by Yang Xiaorou / Taipei

The number of people traveling between Taiwan and South Korea exceeded 1.7 million in 2016, hitting an all-time high. The Korea Tourism Organization and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport previously stated that they would aim for 2 million mutual visitors in 2017. However, Zheng Yishou, director of the Korea Tourism Organization’s Taipei branch, pointed out,The lack of full “open skies” is the biggest limitation affecting travel between Taiwan and South Korea, and without an increase in flights, there is little room for growth in the number of travelers.

Zheng Yishou said that the passenger load factor for flights between Taiwan and South Korea is as high as 90%, and after the increase in flights between March and May last year, the growth rate of mutual visitors once reached 20%. However, the growth rate slowed after June, indicating that the number of flights is a key factor affecting the rise in mutual visits. But due to the lack of full “open skies” between Taiwan and South Korea, the number of flights between Taoyuan and Incheon can no longer be increased, which greatly limits the opportunities for mutual visits between Taiwanese and Korean travelers.

However, Zheng Yishou also mentioned that in just January and February this year, the number of Korean visitors to Taiwan has already exceeded 200,000, and the number of Taiwanese visitors to South Korea has surpassed 140,000, showing more active interaction than in previous years. There is still a good chance of surpassing the goal of 2 million mutual visitors this year.

This year, the Korea Tourism Organization will continue to strengthen the development and promotion of “Korea Local Select Tours” outside the capital region, and is also actively developing markets for family travel and the senior citizen demographic. The goal is to explore new tourism markets beyond the existing customer base, giving travelers more options. In addition, the Korea headquarters has also dispatched Deputy Director Du Hyun-ji and Section Chief Jeong Eun-ji to take up their posts in Taiwan this March, hoping to build on last year’s successful record of mutual visitor numbers and bring a fresh momentum to Taiwan–South Korea tourism.