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[Herald Economy reporter Ham Young-hoon] This year, Korean office workers are favoring shorter, more frequent getaways.
Skyscanner revealed on March 19 that, in a survey of 1,000 Korean office workers, 62% said they plan to travel “short and often” this year.
Among respondents, 89% are planning domestic trips and 75% are planning international travel. On average, they expect to take about 2.7 domestic trips and 1.8 overseas trips this year.
Overall interest in travel hasn’t dropped much, but many people say current global tensions are nudging them toward shorter, less risky trips.
With two major wars, a conflict in Southeast Asia, and localized clashes or unrest in parts of the Americas and Africa, travelers are avoiding long-haul destinations like Europe and the Americas—as well as some parts of Southeast Asia. That’s funneled Korean travel preferences toward short-haul, short-stay spots such as Japan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia and the Marianas. With fewer safe options, people are likely to rotate through nearby cities and visit a small group of neighboring countries more often.
Short-haul destinations within a three-hour flight—Japan, China and Taiwan—were the most popular, accounting for 41% of responses.
Search interest surged for Tokushima, Matsumoto and Ube in Japan; Manado in Indonesia; and Zhuhai, Ningbo and Dalian in China. When asked about favorite destinations, “I’ll go anywhere” topped the list, followed by Japan, Vietnam, China, Thailand and Taiwan.
Most respondents plan to use relatively short consecutive vacation blocks, with three days (30%) and two days (20%) the most common choices. Analysts say people intend to tack trips onto weekends to save vacation days and travel more often.
Timing-wise, the summer holiday season was the favorite (65%), followed by the Chuseok holiday (38%) and the end of the year (37%).
Jessica Min, a travel expert at Skyscanner, said, “Forty-seven percent of respondents prefer to take vacation days around the weekend, and 39% prefer departing on a Friday. That’s a smart strategy for minimizing work disruption while maximizing recharge time.”
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