Seoul, July 6
Over 46 million people travelled to or from South Korea via air in the first half of 2025, setting a record high, data showed on Sunday.
A total of 46,029,842 passengers arrived in or left South Korea via international flights between January and June, up 7.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the land ministry, Incheon International Airport Corp. and Korea Airports Corp.
The figure surpassed the previous record of 45.5 million posted in the first half of 2019, reports Yonhap news agency.
The number of international flights during the six-month period also increased 5.6 percent on-year, also outpacing the previous first-half record set in 2019.
China posted the largest number of air passengers to and from South Korea, with 7.81 million passengers traveling between the two countries via air in the first six months of the year, up 24.3 percent from a year earlier.
Such a sharp increase was partly attributed to the visa-exemption program China implemented for South Korean visitors in November.
Japan followed next, with the number of travellers to and from South Korea jumping 9.9 percent on-year.
Japan has seen a constant wave of South Korean travellers due to a weak yen and, more recently, due to an expansion of flight routes to small cities in Japan.
By airport, some 36 million people traveled via Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to Seoul, while 9.91 million people used six other international airports across the country.
"The demand for international flights reached a record high in the first half due to the normalisation of overseas travel centred on China and Japan, as well as supply expansions," an industry official said. "The growth in demand will continue in the second half of the year due to the stabilising exchange rates and global oil prices."
— IANS
Reader Comments
The China-Korea travel boom is interesting but not surprising given their proximity. I wish India had better air connectivity with East Asian countries. Our airports need to match Incheon's efficiency - the immigration queues there are so much faster than Delhi!
Visited Seoul last year and the airport experience was world-class. Meanwhile in Mumbai, we're still struggling with basic infrastructure. When will our aviation sector get this kind of growth? The government needs to focus more on improving our airports.
The weak yen effect is real! Just returned from Japan and saw so many Korean tourists everywhere. Makes me wonder if India could attract more visitors if we had better visa policies and marketing like these countries.
While these numbers are impressive, I hope South Korea is also focusing on sustainable tourism. We've seen how overtourism can damage local cultures and environments. Maybe they could share some best practices with India as we develop our own tourism sector.
The 24% jump in China-Korea travel shows how quickly relations can improve with the right policies. There's a lesson here for India-China relations too - pragmatic cooperation benefits ordinary people the most.
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