Kang Jae-hyun (28), who lives in Mapo-gu, Seoul, recently took a four-day trip to Japan with a friend. Instead of heading to popular tourist spots like Tokyo or Osaka, he chose to visit Toyama and Kanazawa in north-central Japan, understated cities with a population of around 400,000. “Big cities in Japan are packed with Korean tourists,” said Kang. “I wanted somewhere quieter, where I could really soak in the local atmosphere.”
Last year, 29 million South Koreans traveled overseas. More travelers are seeking out new, lesser-known destinations that are less touristy. Airlines are launching routes to small cities to attract these travelers. With more carriers vying for market share, securing early access to promising new routes has become a strategic priority.
Small cities in Japan are a prime example of this trend. According to aviation data, 19 Japanese cities saw an increase in flight traffic last year compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic. Thirteen of those were small cities with populations under one million.
Miyako Island (Miyakojima), a city in the Okinawa Prefecture, had just six flights from Korea in 2019, according to Incheon International Airport Corporation on April 3. Last year, that number surged to 308, more than a 50-fold increase. From January to March this year, 128 flights have operated on the route.
Similarly, Matsuyama, a city of about 510,000 in Japan’s Shikoku region, saw its flight count jump from 376 in 2019 to 1,074 last year.
Eastar Jet became the first Korean carrier to open a route to Tokushima, a city of 250,000 in eastern Shikoku. In the first three months of this year, 82 flights operated on the route, with seat occupancy reaching 74% in January and 91% in February. “Most Koreans have never heard of Tokushima,” an Eastar spokesperson said. “But the strong demand shows that travelers are eager for unique destinations.”
Bookings to small Japanese cities accounted for 22.5% of all Japan-bound reservations in the first quarter of this year, according to data from Kyowon Tour.
The trend extends beyond Japan, with small cities in Southeast and Central Asia also gaining traction. In May, T’way Air will launch a new route to Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan. Travel to Uzbekistan has traditionally focused on Silk Road cities like Samarkand and Bukhara, but this new route is aimed at travelers looking to experience the country’s lesser-known modern culture.
In April, Jin Air opened a new route to Zhengzhou, a major inland city in China. Last October, Jeju Air began scheduled flights to Batam, an Indonesian island city in the Riau Islands. Most Korean tourists heading to Indonesia visit Bali or Jakarta, but Jeju Air sees an opportunity in Batam’s untapped potential.
