November 14, 2018 - The Korean love affair with Croatia continues, with very strong numbers posted on the new Seoul to Zagreb route, almost 10,000 in the first two months.
One of the more unexpected success stories of Croatian tourism in recent years has been the surge of interest from South Korea, where tourist arrivals have rocketed from 17,000 in 2011 to more than 400,000 a year. As is often the case with Croatian tourism, this success is quite accidental and has its roots in Croatia being the setting of a popular reality TV show, The Romantic. Learn more about the Korean love affair with Croatia via reality TV.
With such strong interest, Korean Air decided to initiate direct flights between Zagreb and Seoul recently, a decision which has been more than vindicated by early results, which show that almost 10,000 passengers used the service, and Zagreb. According to ExYuAviation:
"Korean Air has carried close to 10.000 passengers on its flights between Seoul and Zagreb during its first two months of operations. The airline handled 4.771 travellers in September and a further 5.148 passengers in October. The carrier's average cabin load factor on the route stood at over 80% for the two-month period, while flights were close to completely full in late September during the Chuseok festival, a major three-day thanksgiving holiday during which demand for travel on the Korean peninsula increases significantly. In September and October, Korean Air maintained three weekly flights between the two capital cities with its three-class 218-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft."
Read the full story on ExYuAviation.
Seoul is one of an increasing number of direct intercontinental connections Croatia has established in recent years, as it expands its tourism reach. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Transat from Canada all offer direct flights, while American Airlines will fly direct to Dubrovnik from the United States next summer, the first direct US connection in 28 years.
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