Korea Monthly Activity Report - the California Tourism Industry Website

the 4,000 respondents aged 12~59 spent 87 minutes per day surfing the web on portable
devices. Mobile Shopping on smart phones also increased steeply to 47%, up 30.1% from
July last year. Nearly half of the users performed banking transactions with the device,
reflecting the increasing role smart phones play in economic activities.
Industry experts forecast the smart phone market would be the fastest growing sector in
Korea’s already-saturated wireless service market as service carriers focus their efforts on
offering much faster and larger data streaming long-term evolution (LTE) services for their
early-adopting customers.
F. Airlift
Thai Airways will operate direct flight services between Incheon and Los Angeles 4 times a
week from May 1, 2012. Asiana Airlines officially announced that it will operate daily
direct flight services between Incheon and Honolulu starting July 21, 2012. Asiana Airlines
currently operates regular direct flights to Hawai‘i twice a week departing on Thursday and
Sunday from Incheon International Airport.
According to the Transport Ministry, the number of Koreans using low-cost airlines
surpassed 10 million for the first time last year as more people take advantage of affordable
air travel. The figure reflects a 32.5% on-year surge. Combined market share of the
country’s five budget carriers - Jeju Air, Air Busan, Jin Air, Eastar Jet and T’way Air -
jumped to 16.5%, up 3.3% points. In stark contrast, the number of air travelers rose merely
4.8% during the period to about 49.1 million, which includes those flying with Korean Air
and Asiana Airlines. To hedge against skyrocketing fuel prices and revenue shortfall, the no-
frills carriers are increasingly steering overseas now via 25 international flights. More than
1.8 million people flew abroad with them in 2011, doubling their collective stake on-year to
4.3% in that segment. Industry analysts project the ratio will reach 15% in a few years.
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