Lotte Tour's Jeju Island casino triples revenue

Jeju Dream Tower Casino, located on South Korea's top tourist island of Jeju and run by Lotte Tour Development Co., surpassed $6 million in cumulative revenue this year, thanks to an increase in Chinese tourists.

Lotte Tour Development announced on Friday that its Jeju Dream Tower Casino recorded net sales of 20.87 billion won ($20.3 billion) last month (gross sales minus agent fees).

Cumulative revenue for the year so far is 90.96 billion won, up 243.5% year over year. Last month, table drops (the money exchanged for chips by casino customers) reached a monthly high of 128.3 billion won.

This surge is attributed to the return of Chinese tourists who had halted their visits due to COVID-19.

According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea has been steadily rising each month, with 280,000 in January, 340,000 in February, and 390,000 in March.

The securities industry anticipates continued strong performance from Lotte Tour Development in May.

This is fueled by the convergence of Japan's Golden Week (April 27 to May 6) and China's Labor Day holiday season (May 1 to 6), leading to an upsurge of visitors to Jeju during this super week

Write to Sun A Lee at suna@hankyung.com