Jeju Tourism Organization announced the findings of the 2021 Survey on Tourist Visitors to Jeju Special Self-governing Province, which was conducted on domestic tourists who visited Jeju last year.

According to the 2021 survey, the revisit rate among domestic tourists who visit Jeju was 82.1% with 3.28 visits made on average, continuing its increase year-on-year. The rate of tourists who visit more than four times also increased by a significant margin of over 7%p (27.8% in 2020 to 34.9% in 2021). The intent to revisit was scored at 4.17 points out of 5 points, showing a similar level from last year. The average number of days per stay was 4.57 days, representing four-night trips to Jeju and an increase by 0.4 days year-on-year.

Analysis of spending among domestic tourists in Jeju showed that expenses spent per person rose from 506,344 won in 2020 by 94,282 won to 600,626 won this year, with the per-person spending of individual tourists, who comprise 88.0% of all tourists, reaching 616,856 won as an increase of 105,675 won since last year. Among expenditure items for individual tourists, accommodation was found to occupy the largest portion at 154,089 won.

The assessment of Jeju vacations found that the overall satisfaction rate for Jeju vacations was 3.88 points on average (out of 5 points), marking a decrease of 0.08 points from last year and continuing a gradual trend of decline in the satisfaction rate. Divided into individual areas, the satisfaction rate towards travel expenses was the lowest among all areas at 2.82 points, with the next lowest being public transport at 3.28 points and shopping at 3.38 points. Reasons for dissatisfaction with Jeju vacations included dissatisfaction with prices as the highest at 57.4%, marking an increase of 2.5%p from 2020.

These findings demonstrate that tourists are choosing Jeju for its pristine natural environment for purposes such as leisure, comfort and rest due to their fatigue from COVID-19, which is leading to an increase in a loyal base for Jeju vacations as shown in the rise in the revisit rate. Furthermore, the prolonged continuation of COVID-19 is analyzed to have highlighted Jeju as a substitute for overseas tourist destinations, leading to an increase in the duration of stay for visitors as well as the expenditure on areas such as food and drinks, accommodation, and car rentals.

An official at Jeju Tourism Organization commented, “At the current stage where we are learning to coexist with COVID-19, the province and the JTO are contemplating and preparing a direction for Jeju tourism in anticipation of the restoration of normality in tourism following COVID-19. The conclusions drawn from the findings of this survey are expected to allow an in-depth understanding and diagnosis of Jeju tourism trends with the aim to actively reflect changes in tourism trends caused by COVID-19,” and further announced, “As the rate of revisiting tourists is rapidly increasing, we will dedicate our utmost efforts towards establishing an environment for a safe and comfortable trip.”