Urban Connectivity in Air Passenger Flows, 2002-2012:The Case of Seoul and its Implications
Kyoung-Ho Shin

Abstract
Thisstudy explores the changing patterns of spatial articulation of Seoul in terms of connectivity to other international cities in the Asian city networks. By observing the number of air passenger flows in 2001 and 2011, it reports the increase in volume of air traffic and number of inter-city pairs of Seoul, and its implications for the rising tourism industry in the region of Asia. It is found that the Seoul’s connection to Asian cities has become much denser between 2001 and 2011, and the number of city-pairs has grown remarkably from 137 to 179 during the period. Seoul is more closely linked to big cities in Asia than other regions of North America and Europe, and Seoul’s major international connections with Japanese cities have been replaced by those of the Chinese, which in turn demonstrates Korea’s current intermediate status in the global economy. It is also noted that the increased number of tourists and city contacts reflects the dynamism of a rising Asian economy in general. This study has implications for future research in examining not only the status of Seoul within the city system, but also analysis of the cliques that Seoul belongs to as both a destination and an origin city of tourist groups.

Full Text: PDF