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| Visitors at Hamdeok Beach in Jeju Island on Children's Day on May 5 / Yonhap |
The southern island of Jeju recorded this year's largest number of daily visitors on the Children's Day holiday, industry officials said Thursday.
According to the Jeju Tourism Association, 45,427 people visited the resort island Wednesday, up 139.4 percent from the 19,048 posted a year ago during the early stage of COVID-19.
The number is even larger than the 37,964 tallied on the pre-pandemic Children's Day in 2019 and nears last year's high of 49,541 recorded on Aug. 1.
The association said the increase was partly because people can enjoy extended holidays, with the Children's Day and two weekends interspersed with four workdays.
Since Friday, 37,215 people per day on average visited Jeju. This is larger than the 31,250 seen during a nine-day extended holiday season last fall.
There could have been more arrivals if it had not been for Tuesday's flight suspensions caused by bad weather.
The association expected about 34,000 people will visit the island Thursday and more will come through the weekend.
Tourism on the island has already recovered to pre-pandemic levels as South Koreans opted for domestic destinations due to restrictions on international travels amid COVID-19.
Visitors to Jeju in April and March have nearly doubled from 2020, according to the association.
The trend, however, stoked concerns about the importation of the infectious disease. The island recorded 13 new cases Tuesday, the most in four months.
"More events and gatherings are expected during May, the Month of Family," Lim Tae-bong, chief of the COVID-19 response on Jeju, said. "Given COVID-19 cases have continued to increase since April, people are advised to refrain from unnecessary family gatherings." (Yonhap)
