Korea Tourism Organizstion, Eastar Jet launch regional flight push for Chinese travelers

The vast majority of foreign tourists visiting Korea follow a familiar itinerary, funneling almost exclusively through Incheon International Airport before packing into the trendy shopping districts and historic palaces of Seoul.

National tourism authorities are now engineering a shift outward, betting that direct international flights to regional hubs will help economic growth in the country's less-visited provinces.

In a move to decentralize tourism and attract more numbers of travelers from China, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) signed a strategic partnership on July 23 with budget carrier Eastar Jet.

The agreement establishes a joint framework to expand direct international routes operating out of regional airports, aiming to divert incoming visitor traffic away from the capital and directly into regional local economies.

Under the partnership, KTO and Eastar Jet plan to increase the airline’s proportion of regional inbound foreign passengers to 45 percent this year, with an ambitious target of reaching 55 percent by 2028.

The initiative focuses heavily on the Chinese market ...