Incheon Airport Wants to Boost Transfer Passenger Traffic

Incheon International Airport on Tuesday announced measures to recover declining transfer passenger traffic.

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They include allowing passengers who bought their ticket directly from an airline to transfer to different flights at the airport, and offering them half-day tours while waiting for their flights and discounts at duty-free shops.

Incheon International Airport Corporation said transfer passengers from January to July dwindled 4.1 percent on-year to 4.21 million.

Total passenger numbers grew 17.9 percent to 32.5 million, but the decline nonetheless worries airport administrators.

"Transfer passengers are important because they spend quite a lot of money in a short time and become potential visitors to Korea down the road", according to Huh Hee-young at Korea Aerospace University.

The main rivals are Japanese and Chinese hubs.

One aim is to lure travelers transferring at Tokyo's Narita Airport to Incheon instead.

The number of tourists visiting Japan surged from 6.22 million in 2011 to 19.74 million last year. Incheon is offering incentives like discounts on airport usage fees and duty-free purchases to travel agencies in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where many frequent visitors to Japan come from.

It is also in negotiations with Japanese regional government like Nigata and Sendai, which boast major tourist attractions, to funnel visitors through the hub. The idea is that Incheon will give them duty-free coupons and free airport lounge access and the regional governments discounts on accommodation.

The key to attracting Chinese transfer passengers is online marketing since online firms accounts for 77 percent of all travel agencies in China.

Incheon recently created a separate link on the websites of China's market leaders Ctrip and Tuniu and gave 6,000 coupon books to Chinese travel agencies offering duty-free discounts of up to W640,000 (US$1=W1,119).

Airport President Chung Il-young said, "Incheon was meant to serve as a Northeast Asian hub, so it's important to attract transfer passengers".