"Do you want to go to a rural hot spring?"Travel industry 'nice to see' as small Japanese city emerges

[Anchor]
This year, more than 20 million people have already flown between Korea and Japan, and are on the verge of breaking an all-time high.

The number of Japanese visitors is expected to increase further due to the low yen and the increasing demand for small cities that are not well known.

With visa-free entry into China allowed, the travel industry is expecting a special year-end.

Reporter Oh Dong-gun covered it.

[Reporter]
Travelers who visited the airport to travel abroad.

The most popular destination is Japan as well.

[Baek Songbin / Nokbeon-dong, Seoul: Japan is good in Korean, the food is good, and flights are cheap these days]

By October of this year, more than 20 million people had already traveled between Korea and Japan by air.

It is expected to surpass the annual record of 21.35 million within this year.

Airlines have also started expanding their routes to Japan in line with this demand.

During this winter, flights to Japan increased 12% from the summer

In particular, low-cost airlines are launching new flights in small Japanese cities such as Matsuyama, famous for its hot springs, and Saga, famous for its natural scenery.

In particular, due to the nature of Japanese travel, where there are many so-called "Nth visitors" to the places they have been to, travelers' curiosity to find new places other than large cities that have already been there is also growing.

[Kim Jae-wan / Wonhyo-dong, Seoul: I've always been to big cities, but this time, I wanted to experience small cities while healing. There aren't many people, and I'm looking forward to the sounds of nature.

The steady stay of the exchange rate in the late 800 won to early 900 won due to the low yen that has continued since last year is also stimulating demand for travel to Japan.

In addition, the travel industry expects demand for travel to China, which has recently been able to go without a visa, to increase.

It plans to revitalize Chinese travel products, which have been stagnant due to various marketing such as airline tickets and package special events.

[Jo Il-sang/Hana Tour official: If you look at the reservations for the last two to three weeks after China's visa-free implementation, there is a trend of an increase of more than 30% compared to the previous month.]

As the cold weather increases the preference for short-distance travel, the travel industry expects the end of the year special due to the recovery of demand for Japanese small city travelers and Chinese travel.

This is YTN Oh Dong-gun.