Incheon International Airport will soon be making a big entertainment upgrade. The largest airport in South Korea recently announced plans to house an esports arena. This venue will offer travelers a place to unwind while they play video games and participate in or watch esports tournaments.
A “gamer Lounge” zone will be built at an idle space in the airport’s first terminal. This idle area will also house a digital museum as well as a promotional area for duty-free shops.
“We will upgrade our airport’s commercial areas into integrated cultural zones,” said Incheon International Airport Corporation’s CEO, Kim Kyung-wook, in a December 27th statement.
Incheon International Airport is easily one of the busiest locations in the world when it comes to air travel. With that in mind, the facility did struggle during the pandemic, seeing a 97% decrease in travelers during the first half of 2021 when compared to the same period of time in 2019.
The Profit‘s Take:
I just don’t know if an airport is the right place for esports matches. For the most part, people tend to have horrible experiences at airports. They’re not places you go to have fun. If it makes sense anywhere, though, I guess South Korea is probably a good location to test this out. This is about as bad of an idea as putting an esports center in a sports stadium. You go to airports for a specific purpose. It’s unlikely you get people to come hours ahead of time just so they can watch esports matches or play video games. The 60+ crowd getting to their flights several hours in advance is not the right audience for an esports arena. This could be a nice little addition to your airport lounge, especially because the LAN part of it makes sense. But, an arena seems kind of over-the-top for an airport.
(All information was provided by Aju Business Daily and Google)
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