Summer vacationers cool off in a stream in Baekdam Valley, Inje County, Gangwon Province, on Aug. 3. Photo provided by Inje County
Lee Hye-rin
A survey released on Tuesday found that South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju is losing its luster as a prime travel destination for South Koreans despite a recovery in domestic travel demand after the pandemic.
Instead, Gangwon Province, a mountainous coastal province on the eastern side of the Korean peninsula known for similar tourist purposes to Jeju Island, has emerged as a popular destination.
South Koreans' interest in traveling to Jeju fell to 29 percent in July, the lowest since the survey began in 2016, according to a monthly report released by Consumer Insight on Tuesday.
“Interest” refers to the percentage of respondents who said their desire to visit a particular destination has increased compared to the previous year.
After falling nine percentage points from 41% to 32% in May, it fell another four points from June to July, from 33% to 29%.
So far, domestic travel trends in South Korea have followed a similar trajectory post-pandemic, regardless of region.
Most regions saw a gradual downward trend through 2019, a steep drop soon after the COVID-19 pandemic began, then a sharp increase in 2021-2022 to reach a high before falling again.
But Jeju Island's downward trend is unusual: interest plummeted 18 percentage points between 2022 and 2023, and continued to fall from 41% to 29% between January and July of this year.
Gangwon Province's drop was smaller, falling 12 percentage points from 55% to 43% over the same period.
In particular, travel “plan sharing” on Jeju Island hit an all-time low.
“Planning share” refers to the percentage of people who actually plan to travel to a particular destination within the next three months.
The monthly average remained at 12% for the first seven months of the year, but hit a low of 9% in May and July.
This is the lowest in the country and even lower than the figure for Chungcheong Province, which has relatively weak travel infrastructure.
Meanwhile, in Gangwon Province, the figure was 23 percent in the January-July period, surpassing Jeju Island's 12 percent.
After that, from March, when Jeju Island's decline began, the trend began to rise, peaking at 27% in July, three times that of Jeju Island.
According to the survey, travel purposes for Jeju and Gangwon provinces overlap.
Among those planning to travel to Jeju Island this year, the top reasons for travel were “natural scenery” at 35%, “rest” at 24%, and “gourmet food” at 18%.
A similar trend was seen in Gangwon Province, with 36% choosing “natural scenery,” 24% choosing “rest,” and 18% choosing “good food,” indicating the complementarity of the two destinations.
“This trend indicates that interest in and sharing of travel plans to Gangwon Province and Jeju Island are inversely proportional,” the report said, suggesting that “travelers turning their attention away from Jeju Island are turning toward Gangwon Province.”
