With this year's Chuseok holiday lasting only four days, overseas travel bookings are concentrating on relatively close destinations such as Japan and China, industry data showed. Searches for domestic accommodations have also risen.
Nearly 88% of package-tour bookings for departures between the 23rd and 27th of next month, as of the 20th of this month, were for nearby destinations including China, Japan and Southeast Asia, Hana Tour said on the 25th. China accounted for the largest share, followed by Japan and Southeast Asia. In China, bookings rose for Zhangjiajie and Baekdu Mountain, which are entering their autumn peak season, as well as Shanghai. In Japan, demand centered on destinations easy to visit on a short trip, such as Osaka and northern Kyushu.
Agoda's analysis showed a similar pattern. Based on Chuseok-holiday accommodation searches by domestic users from May through mid-August, the top five overseas destinations were, in order, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Osaka, Da Nang and Nha Trang. Three Japanese cities and two Vietnamese resort towns took the top spots.
Domestic destinations also drew strong interest. According to Agoda, searches for domestic destinations over the Chuseok holiday from the 24th to the 27th rose 160% from two weeks before the break. Searches for overseas destinations rose 38% over the same period. Within Korea, Jeju was the most searched, followed by Busan, Seoul, Sokcho and Gyeongju. Sokcho saw searches surge 324%, the largest increase among the top five destinations, while Jeju rose 131%.
