The number of passengers on international flights to and from South Korea reached a record high in the third quarter on increased demand from Chinese and Japanese tourists.

The number of international passengers reached 12.95 million in the July-September period, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

The figure is 1.22 million higher than the previous quarterly record of 11.73 million during the same period last year.

The sharp rise is attributed to increased demand for overseas trip on the back of summer holidays and traditional holidays in South Korea, China and Japan.

The traditional Korean harvest or Chuseok holiday fell on Sept. 30 this year.

The number of Chinese tourists for their seven-day national holiday until Oct. 6 hit a new high also of 125,000, well above its previous estimate of 100,000, according to the state-run Korea National Tourism Organization.

Passenger traffic to Southeast Asian countries totaled 3.93 million, marking the highest level for international routes, while the number of passengers to Australia was tallied at 428,904.

Passenger traffic to Australia rose 13.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, seeing the largest growth, with the number of passengers to Japan and China rising 12.7 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively.

The number of international passengers for the third quarter has been on a constant rise, from 10.76 million in 2010, 11.73 million in 2011 and 12.95 million this year.

The number of passengers using domestic flights dropped 1.9 percent on-year to 5.38 million in the third quarter, due primarily to a number of typhoons.

Amid a prolonged economic downturn, freight traffic also fell 0.6 percent to 879,000 tons in the July-September period.

"The number of passengers on international routes is expected to rise in the fourth quarter thanks to China's holiday and the Pusan International Film Festival," a ministry official said. (Yonhap News)