South Korea's air passenger traffic shot up 57 percent on-year in January on the back of the strong demand for routes connecting to China, data showed Sunday.

The number of international travelers to and from South Korea reached 7.28 million, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

It represents around 91 percent of the figure tallied in January 2019, indicating international travel has nearly recovered to the pre-pandemic level.

By destination, the number of travelers on routes connecting to China reached around 873,000, marking an increase of more than eightfold from the 104,000 tallied a year earlier.

This also marks the first time that the monthly figure has surpassed 870,000 since August of last year, when China announced the resumption of group tours to South Korea.

In the wake of the rising demand for travel to China, Korean Air Co., the country's flagship carrier, plans to resume routes to Zhangjiajie in April.

The number of passengers on routes connecting to Japan came to 2.03 million in January, up 53 percent on-year, apparently as more travelers took advantage of the weaker Japanese yen. (Yonhap)