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| The 27,000-ton Beyond Trust ferry arrives at the port of Jeju in this file photo taken on Dec. 11, 2021. Newsis |
By Lee Hae-rin
More tourists are choosing to cut travel expenses by taking ferries when visiting Jeju Island due to the soaring prices of flight tickets and car rentals this summer. According to Jeju Tourism Association (JTA), Saturday, over 480,000 people have visited the island by ferry so far this year.
The figure constitutes 5.7 percent of the 8.58 million domestic travelers that have visited the island in 2022 so far.
The number of visitors taking ferries to the island has gone up 1 percent from last month, when it was 4.7 percent, with 348,000 people, as of mid-July.
The rising costs of airfare and car rental services have led more travelers to take their own vehicles and travel by ferry, such as the 27,000-ton ferry, Beyond Trust, plying the route between Incheon and Jeju, and the 3,500-ton Santa Monica, sailing between the southeastern city of Mokpo and the island, both of which reinitiated service in May.
JTA forecasts that 20,500 additional travelers will visit the island by ferry during this long weekend with the National Liberation Day on Monday, which is a 136-percent increase from last year's 8,683 people.
"Ferries were once a mode of transportation to travel to Jeju Island for 9 percent of its visitors, but the number declined after the Sewol ferry disaster (in 2014)," a JTA official said, explaining that it is very significant that the number (of visitors taking ferries) has surpassed 5 percent.
