Gimhae Airport recorded operating profit of 79.9 billion won last year, achieving a surplus for the third consecutive year. Excluding Jeju Airport, which operates under special circumstances, it was the only profitable case among the country's 13 regional airports last year. Gimhae Airport's transformation is attributed to a surge in foreign tourists, driven by the tourism content Busan has built up.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) said it held the second "Cooperation Forum for Regional Tourism Activation Linked to Regional Airports" at Busan City Hall on the 29th, together with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Kim Yoon-duck), to spread the success case of Gimhae Airport.
The forum aims to revive "perennially loss-making" regional airports by turning them into representative regional gateways for foreign visitors to Korea and fostering surrounding areas as tourism zones. Following Daegu Airport on April 21, the forum this time focused on Gimhae Airport. If Daegu Airport is a "failure case" (a 4.3 billion won loss last year), Gimhae Airport is a "success case."
At the cooperation forum held in Busan, participants sought ways to spread foreign tourists to regional areas centered on Gimhae Airport. Presided over by Kim Dae-hyun, Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the gathering brought together about 50 officials, including relevant ministries such as the Culture Ministry and the Land Ministry, deputy heads of local governments such as Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province, the Korea Tourism Organization, the Korea Airports Corporation, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, airlines, and the regional travel industry.
Son Sin-wook, an associate research fellow at the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, gave a presentation on "The Status and Policy Tasks of Regional Tourism and Airports." Region-based travel agencies specializing in inbound tourism to Korea shared urgent improvement tasks regarding transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, and guidance systems that they experienced firsthand while developing and demonstrating tourism courses linking Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province with foreign tourists. Afterward, the central government, local governments and related agencies comprehensively discussed the roles and solutions of each institution regarding the pending tasks.
The Culture Ministry explained that it "plans to boldly break down barriers between relevant agencies and make regional airports the center of inbound tourism to Korea through government-wide cooperation." Having held forums at Daegu and Gimhae airports, it plans to visit Cheongju Airport soon.
The operating performance of regional airports is currently dire. According to the Korea Airports Corporation, the operator of regional airports, 11 of the 13 regional airports operated by the corporation as of 2025 (excluding Gimpo Airport) posted losses, except for Gimhae Airport and Jeju Airport. In particular, the losses were large at Muan Airport with 31.3 billion won, Yangyang Airport with 23.6 billion won, Ulsan Airport with 21.6 billion won, and Yeosu Airport with 21.3 billion won. Even Daegu Airport, which is in relatively favorable conditions, saw its loss widen from 2 billion won in 2024 to 4.3 billion won last year.
This is also why the government has taken an interest in the role of regional airports as entry channels for foreign tourists. According to the Land Ministry, foreign arrivals through Gimhae Airport in the first quarter of this year totaled about 430,000, up 45.5% from 300,000 in the same period last year. Reflecting this trend, Gimhae Airport's surplus widened from 66.2 billion won in 2024 to 79.9 billion won last year.
Meanwhile, this forum is part of the "regional airport regional inbound hub" plan announced at the "Expanded National Tourism Strategy Meeting" presided over by President Lee Jae-myung in February. The plan is to derive cooperation tasks tailored to the conditions of local governments within tourism zones, tourism demand and the characteristics of each airport, so that revitalizing regional airports can expand the inflow of foreign tourists into the regions.
Vice Minister Kim Dae-hyun of the Culture Ministry said, "There is a need to comprehensively innovate the infrastructure and services across the entire journey of foreign tourists centered on regional airports," the Culture Ministry conveyed.
