Korea’s casino operators face a nervous and uncertain future following revelations that Chinese tourism to the southern resort island of Jeju are down 88% over the same period last year.
Despite hopes that improved relations between the two countries would see China’s ban on group tours to South Korea lifted following a spat over Korea’s THAAD missile system earlier in the year, figures released by the Jeju provincial government over the weekend show Chinese tourist numbers for the week from 30 June to 6 July plummeted to just 9,386 from 77,824 in 2017. The number of direct flights between the two has fallen by 248 since March.
Other foreign tourists are also staying away, with just 12,360 arriving – down from 86,292 last year.
And the news isn’t getting better soon with 117,828 Chinese tourists who had booked trips between July and October through 30 Chinese tourist agencies having since cancelled.
For the past four months, Chinese tourist arrivals in Jeju have fallen 56.2% in March, 88.1% in April, 89.6% in May and 89.3% in June.
According to The Korea Times, sales from tourists have fallen by US$174.31 million since March, with a number of tourist agencies now facing the prospect of closing down.
The situation is already being felt across a number of sectors, with chartered buses suffering from a lack of cruise ship arrivals, duty free shops largely empty and restaurants taking only a handful of bookings.
It’s also bad news for Jeju’s eight casinos, which include Landing International’s new Jeju Shinhwa World, Paradise Co’s Paradise Casino Jeju Grand and Jeju Sun which the Philippines’ Bloomberry Resorts sold to Macau junket promoter Iao Kun Group Holdings last year.
Paradise Co, whose Paradise City Integrated Resort opened in Incheon in April, last week reported a 20.7% fall in revenue for the six months to 30 June.
