South Korea holiday hotspot Jeju Island is to get a new international airport to cope with a surge in Chinese tourists.
A new project costing US$3.5 billion is being proposed as the island’s existing airport struggles to keep pace with demand for more budget flights from Chinese cities.
It will be built in the southeast of the island and operational by 2025, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.
Jeju International is now the second busiest in the country after Seoul’s Incheon airport and handled 23.2 million passengers last year – a year-on-year rise of 16%.
This is set to increase to about 40 million by 2025.
Jeju welcomed almost three million Chinese visitors last year, up 58% on the previous 12 months.
The island is also visa-free for Chinese tourists and is just a one-hour flight from Shanghai.
