Tickets for Korean carrier T’way go on sale this week for the airline’s launch into Australia later this year.
Significantly, the Sydney-Seoul service will be the carrier’s first long-haul operation out of Korea. But it will also make it the fifth airline to offer flights on the soon-to-be-busy connection, following Jetstar and Qantas’s entries on the route in November and December, respectively.
This means by the end of the year, there will be more airlines flying from Australia to Korea than tourist hotspot and neighbouring Japan.
Commencing 23 December, T’way’s four-times weekly service will depart Seoul on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with returning flights leaving the following days.
The airline will utilise its A330-300 aircraft on the route, with 12 business class and 335 economy class seats.
Tickets go on sale in Australia this week, T’way Sydney Manager Ilmin Nam told Karryon.
The carrier also said it would “help” travel advisors; however, it did not specify whether it would be offering agent commissions.
Interest in Korea surging
In a recent interview with Karryon, Korea Tourism Organization (KTB) Sydney director Insook Lee said that since the country reopened its borders – albeit with restrictions – in April, “a lot of consumers, a lot of trade have been calling and emailing us”.
“They want to go to Korea,” she said.
According to Lee, during the height of the pandemic, the image of Korea as a tourist destination was enhanced, with many believing it to be a safe country.
Its exposure through Korean exports like the television series Squid Games and K-pop stars BTS hasn’t hurt its profile either.
Lee said that pre-Covid, Korea welcomed around 170,000 Australians annually and that “consecutive growth rates were high”.
“Within one or two years, [we hope to be] back to that level,” she added.
Perhaps they could aim a little higher.
Japan is an ally, not rival
“I do see a lot more people exploring more about Korea because many Australians know Japan; they don’t know much about Korea. And now, since there’s more interest in Korea, the numbers will be promising.”
The extra air capacity in the country will help that.
“And we do have some joint promotions, together with Japan as well … to push people to visit Japan and also Korea. So we are doing various ways to promote Korea.”
According to Lee, KTO is also looking to move more tourism into regional areas like Pusan and Jeju as well as encourage people to stay beyond the stopover, which 35 per cent of Australians had previously been doing.
“Usually they stop over [for] like 1 or 2 days. I find it too short,” she remarked.
“People should stay at least a week.”
Seven days of cool culture, Korean barbecue and kimchi? That could work.
On 1 October, South Korea dropped all Covid testing requirements for international arrivals.
For more information on Korea, visit the KTO website here.
