Tourists on Jeju. Photo courtesy Jeju Tourist Organization

The number of tourists revisiting Jeju and the number of days people stayed on the island increased last year, while the amount of money spent per tourist decreased. This is according to the results of a survey by Jeju Welcome Center.

In terms of the number of days people stayed on the island, there was an increase for both foreign and Korean tourists. Korean tourists increased their average stay from 4.12 days to 4.49 days, while foreign tourist increased their stay from 4.13 days to 4.39 days.

The percentage of Korean and foreign tourists revisiting the island also increased. In 2016, 67.4 percent of people visiting the island where making a return trip compared to 69.8 percent in 2017. For foreign tourists, in 2016, 12.3 percent were making a return trip while in 2017 this number was 19.8.

The percentage of people coming to the island via package tours also saw a significant decrease when compared to previous years. This comes after package tours from China were banned for a significant part of last year due to the disagreement between Korea and China over the deployment of THAAD missiles.

In total, the percentage of foreign tourists traveling to Korea via package tours decreased from 59.2 percent in 2016, to 24.5 percent in 2017. The number of Korean tourists coming via package tours actually increased 0.3 percent, although at 7.5% this was still a very small proportion overall.

In terms of the amount spent per trip, there was a decrease, however. The amount spent by Korean tourists decreased 52,124 won to a total of 540,307, while the amount spent by foreign tourists decreased a fairly significant $251.9 to $1,214.9.

The survey spoke to both foreign and Korean tourists and included those who came to the island on cruises. In total, 12,000 people (around 1000 a month) over the age of 15 took the survey.