If you want to go to Jeju on a budget, now is the time to go:
Empty shopping area on Jeju.
Three bucks may be all you need to get yourself from Seoul to Jeju Island.
Local budget airline T’way Air on Tuesday afternoon started offering one-way flights from Gimpo International Airport to Jeju International Airport and vice versa for as low as 3,000 won ($2.50), as the continuing spread of the Wuhan coronavirus drives customers away from air travel.
Counting taxes and airport usage fees, the ticket price goes up to 12,500 won, but it’s still the cheapest for anytime of the year. Even for plane tickets over the weekend, which are typically in higher demand than weekdays, the air carrier is offering one-way tickets with price tags as low as 7,900 won. That’s less than 19,500 won, no matter what, to get a traveler from Seoul to Jeju.
If you ever wanted to visit Jeju Island without crowds now is the time:
Deserted shopping district in Jeju.
Jeju Island has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus outbreak since its economy relies to at least 70 percent on tourism, mostly from China.
The government is halting visa-free entry of Chinese tourists from Tuesday, and Koreans are shunning the southern resort island because they are afraid of running into infected Chinese tourists there.
Last year 1.73 million foreigners visited Jeju, 62.5 percent of them from China, but since late last month, when the new coronavirus started spreading throughout China, Chinese visitor numbers have plunged.
Flights between Jeju and China dwindled from 24 a day on Jan. 21 to just seven on Sunday. There are 18 direct routes to Chinese cities, and 15 of them are currently on hold while the remaining ones are only 44 percent full, compared to 90 percent in boom times.
High waves are seen off Seogwipo on the southern resort island of Jeju on Aug. 22, 2018, as Typhoon Soulik moves north toward the Korean Peninsula from seas near southern Japan. (Yonhap)
