Eastar Jet teams up with Korea Tourism Organization to attract Chinese-speaking tourists

Eastar Jet signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Tourism Organization on Thursday to attract tourists from Chinese-speaking markets and boost regional tourism across South Korea.

The signing ceremony was held at the Korea Tourism Organization Seoul Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, with Lee Gyeong-min, Eastar Jet's commercial division head, and Jung Seok-in, the organization's international tourism division head, among those attending.

Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate on developing new and charter routes in Chinese-speaking markets, conducting joint overseas marketing and creating region-specific tourism products, and managing inbound visitor data.

Through the partnership, the two sides aim to gradually raise the share of inbound foreign passengers at Eastar Jet's regional airports to an average of 45 percent this year and to 55 percent by 2028.

Eastar Jet has seen the share of foreign passengers on its Chinese-market routes consistently rise, particularly out of Jeju and Busan. On the Jeju–Taipei route, the foreign passenger share climbed from 86 percent in 2024 to 94 percent in 2025 and reached 96 percent in the first quarter of this year, while the Jeju–Shanghai route reached 98 percent in the same period. The Busan–Taipei route has also risen month by month, from 79 percent in January to 86 percent in February and 92 percent in March.

"Amid consistently expanding demand from Chinese-speaking markets for travel to Korea, we plan to actively work to boost inbound tourism through close cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization," an Eastar Jet official said. "We will continue to strengthen route development and overseas marketing so that more foreign tourists can visit diverse regions across the country."

To capitalize on peak demand from mainland China, Eastar Jet will operate charter flights from Incheon to Datong, Nantong and Ningbo between July and October. The Incheon–Datong service runs from July 9 to Aug. 30, the Incheon–Nantong service from July 3 to Aug. 31, and the Incheon–Ningbo service from Aug. 1 to Oct. 10, each operating twice a week.

The airline also received traffic rights for 11 Chinese routes — including Xiamen and Hohhot — from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in April and plans to launch them in phases in the second half of this year.