AIR CITY
phase will include a motorboat training centre and play host to various international water sporting events, providing exciting tourist experiences. This part of the project will be completed in 2011.
Fantasy Island Water Park.
There will also be projects to turn Incheon into an attractive tourist destination. A Las Vegas-style casino is planned with accompanying hotels and entertainment, aquarium and shopping malls; a new expanded golf course, wedding chapels and even an artificial beach. To make this a success Incheon is betting on an influx of visitors from China (which restricts gambling to Macau) and Japan, who they believe will come specifically to visit Incheon Airport, rather than visiting Incheon City or even Seoul. “Our main target is China; we are one and a half or two hours flight time from Shanghai and Beijing and there are many wealthy people in China. In fact a lot are already visiting Korea to spend money on shopping and food,” says Jung June Ahn, deputy executive director of Incheon’s Airport City Development Group.
“Once we develop the regional casino complex and associated shopping malls they will come; at the moment Macau and Singapore are following this model and they are huge success stories, thanks to Chinese and Japanese money,” explains Ahn.
At the south west end of the island, the airport has built a water park to be a major public amenity, drawing local residents and international visitors alike. Developed in partnership with the Korean Sports Promotion Foundation, the 97,000sqm Water Park first
“In the IBC II zone to the north west of Incheon Airport we plan to build a large-scale entertainment complex, including a casino and an aquarium. We also plan to develop the waterfront area to the south of Incheon as a Mecca for water sports in Northeast Asia, where international water sports will be held, including the F1 Power Boat Grand Prix,” says CW Lee. To link the various commercial projects, Incheon Airport is constructing a magnetic levitation, monorail line, which will run from the passenger terminal and IBC-I to IBC-II and the Water Park, once completed in 2013. Incheon Airport’s land development plans are also likely to benefit from being part of a much larger project to make the Incheon region an economic powerhouse. Yeongjong is one of three FEZ’s in the immediate area. Opposite Yeongjong Island is Cheongna, the site of a planned ‘Leisure City’, a $6.2 billion mixed use business and shopping complex, which is due to open in 2012. Cheongna is also to be home to a new financial and residential district being developed by the Korea Land & Housing Corporation, to be completed in 2021. In Songdo, a $10.5 billion international business district is underway, with major projects including high-tech, bio, R&D and industrial complexes, seaport and logistics facilities and the Songdo Landmark City.
The Incheon City government is also creating two residential areas to the north of the airport, including one huge housing area, especially for the Chinese, in the downtown area. It is hoped these will drive the Air City project forward.
So what are the future prospects of Incheon’s Air City likely to be? According to Ahn, the prospects are very good, although an immediate priority is to move away from only targeting transit passengers as part of the airport’s hub strategy, to also look at growing traffic that will visit the Air City attractions. “Actually, some people say that transfer rates are very important for the airport, as it symbolises hub status, but I don’t think its as important for Air City. We should also look to O&D passengers who typically spend a lot of money during their stay in Korea and at the airport; so if we develop good facilities they will spend even more time and money here,” he explains.
“I am quite optimistic the Korean economy is rising along with the world economy. In Korea real estate is one of the most important sectors of the economy; over the last two to three years the market has been very poor but so far in 2011 it’s going well and we’ve seen some extraordinary rent prices since last November,” says Ahn. Incheon’s slogan ‘More than an airport – beyond expectation’ has never been more true.
75
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104