Korean airport traffic rebounds from MERS
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A year after the MERS outbreak hit South Korea, there are signs that the country’s tourism industry has fully recovered.
In its latest report on Asian airport passenger numbers, ACI revealed that Korea’s busiest airports experienced strong double-digit growth in July 2016, compared to the same month last year. Traffic at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport surged 44.4%, while sharp rises were also seen at Busan (+39.9%) and Jeju (+35.2%) airports.
These figures reflect the low numbers seen last summer, as the MERS outbreak put a handbrake on inbound travel to Korea. Seoul’s second airport, Gimpo (+21.1%) handles less international traffic and was therefore less impacted by the MERS outbreak.
Among Asia’s busiest airports, traffic rose 3.4% in Beijing and 5.0% at Tokyo Haneda. And India’s booming domestic aviation sector continued to drive double-digit growth at several of the country’s airports, including Chennai (+26.2%), Kolkata (+25.9%) and Hyderabad (+25.8%).
Overall, passenger traffic at airports in the Asia Pacific region increased 11.3% in July 2016.
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