On the 29th, flower festivals across Jeju Island drew crowds eager to soak up spring vibes.
With daytime highs around 19–20°C (66–68°F), locals and tourists shed heavy layers, wandered picture-perfect flower paths in lighter clothes, and snapped photos to remember the day.
The 19th Royal Cherry Blossom Festival on Jeju City's Jeonnong-ro opened on the 27th, but late blooms left it practically flowerless — yet crowds still turned out, much to organizers’ relief.
The Jeju Regional Meteorological Office’s observation tree recorded the island’s cherry blossoms opening on the 28th — two days later than last year (March 26) and three days later than the average (March 25).
From the 28th through today, Seogwipo has been hosting the 28th Seogwipo Canola Flower International Walking Event.
Co-hosted by Seogwipo City and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation and organized by the Seogwipo Tourism Association, the event offered three routes — 5, 10 and 20 km (about 3.1, 6.2 and 12.4 miles) — and drew roughly 6,000 walkers from near and far, about 1,500 more than last year’s 4,500.
As part of the East Asia Flower Walking League, delegations from Kurume, Japan, and Dalian, China, returned this year, joined by the Beijing Walking Association and visitors from Hong Kong, Russia, Romania and beyond.
Jeju hit the 3-million-visitor mark on the 25th — over 10 days earlier than last year (April 7).
As of the 28th, total visitors reached 3,142,227, an 18.7% increase from 2,646,305 during the same period last year.
Domestic visitors rose to 2,671,389, a 17% increase, while foreign visitors numbered about 470,000.
