Attracting Foreign Carriers to Yangyang Airport: 20,000 Jobs and ₩3.9 Trillion in Production for Gangwon Province

With the era of 20 million inbound tourists projected for 2026, a new empirical analysis suggests that attracting foreign airlines to underserved regional airports could generate approximately ₩3.2 trillion in cumulative direct local cash spending over five years.

On the 12th, Yanolja Research (Director SooCheong Jang), a private research institute specializing in travel and tourism, released a report titled "Economic Effects of Attracting Foreign Carriers to Regional Airports: A Case Study of Yangyang International Airport." The report proves that a strategy to attract foreign carriers to regional hubs is not merely a tourism promotion tactic, but a core national inbound strategy to overcome the crisis of regional extinction.

From 'Ghost Airport' to the Heart of Gangwon Tourism

According to the report, as of 2025, only 16.7% of foreign tourists visiting Korea entered through non-metropolitan airports, while approximately 72% were concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area (Incheon and Gimpo). Specifically, Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province has recently seen zero scheduled international flights. This lack of infrastructure is identified as the fundamental cause of "undertourism" in regional destinations.

Yanolja Research evaluated that Yangyang Airport is highly competitive for attracting short-to-medium-haul foreign Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs), given its infrastructure capable of handling 37,000 flights annually and its proximity to vast tourism resources like Seoraksan Mountain and the East Coast.

Analysis shows that attracting just a single foreign route operating three times a week would bring approximately 18,000 foreigners annually. Their direct spending on accommodation, F&B, and transportation within Gangwon is estimated at ₩29.8 billion per year, expected to provide immediate and powerful vitality to the struggling local self-employed ecosystem.

Phased Expansion: ₩3.9 Trillion in Production Expected within 5 Years

Yanolja Research also presented a five-year scenario for phased route expansion. The report suggests establishing routes for primary target countries (China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam) in years 1–2. If daily operations are established for seven market routes by year 5, the number of foreign tourists is projected to reach 790,000, with economic ripple effects growing exponentially.

The cumulative direct cash spending in Gangwon over five years is projected at ₩3.2 trillion. When converted using the Input-Output Analysis model, the total economic impact includes:

Production Inducement: ₩3.9 trillion

Value-Added Inducement: ₩1.8 trillion

Employment Inducement: 20,512 jobs

Four Key Tasks for a 'Hub-and-Spoke' Ecosystem

To build a successful "Hub-and-Spoke" ecosystem, Yanolja Research proposed four core policy tasks:

• Incentive Systems: Drastic measures such as airport facility fee waivers and public support for ground handling for foreign carriers.
• Mobility: Expansion of the "K-Travel Shuttle" and integrated mobility networks connecting major tourist attractions.
• Visa Policy: Legalizing visa-free entry systems and expanding the list of eligible countries.
• Governance: Launching a Mega-Regional DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) to overcome fragmented administration at the local government level.

Kyuwan Choi, a professor at Kyung Hee University’s College of Hotel & Tourism Management, emphasized, "The ultimate goal of attracting foreign carriers is not airport profitability, but creating an ecosystem where tourism consumption spreads from Yangyang to the entire Gangwon region, including Sokcho, Pyeongchang, and Gangneung."

SooCheong Jang, Director of Yanolja Research and Professor at Purdue University, stated, "The solution to regional extinction is not a zero-sum game of stealing neighbors' populations, but securing a 'spending population' regardless of residency." He urged a paradigm shift, adding, "Connecting Yangyang Airport to Gangwon's tourism resources will be a national stepping stone to break the Seoul-centric tourism imbalance."

Note: This report analyzed Yangyang International Airport as a case study to examine the applicability of a "Hub-and-Spoke" strategy using idle domestic airports. Yangyang was selected due to its potential link with major resources like Seoraksan and the East Coast, and its capacity to create new inbound routes in the absence of current scheduled international flights.