With this year's Chuseok holiday spanning just four public-holiday days, demand for overseas travel is concentrating on nearby destinations such as Japan, China and Southeast Asia. Because taking long leave is difficult, travelers are gravitating toward destinations with relatively short flight times.
Hana Tour said on the 25th that, based on package-tour bookings for departures between the 23rd and 27th of next month tallied as of the 20th, nearby destinations accounted for about 88% of all reservations.
By region, China drew the largest share of bookings, followed by Japan and Southeast Asia. In China, demand centered on Zhangjiajie and Baekdu Mountain, signature autumn destinations for enjoying natural scenery. A visa-free policy and expanded flight routes are seen as factors behind the rise in bookings.
More recently, the number of travelers heading to major cities such as Shanghai has also grown, showing that demand for travel to China is spreading from natural attractions to urban trips.
In Japan, preferred destinations diverged by trip purpose. Osaka, home to a cluster of theme parks and shopping facilities, was popular among family travelers with young children, while northern Kyushu, known for its hot springs, was chosen by families traveling with parents.
The most popular departure date was September 24, the first day of the holiday. Products departing that day made up 42% of all bookings, while trips leaving one day earlier on the 23rd — using a single day of annual leave — accounted for 24%. That means about 66% of all bookings were concentrated on the first day of the holiday and the day before.
A similar pattern appeared in accommodation searches. According to an analysis by digital travel platform Agoda of Korean travelers' Chuseok holiday lodging searches from May through mid-August, Fukuoka in Japan was the most-searched overseas destination, followed by Tokyo, Osaka, and Da Nang and Nha Trang in Vietnam.
Among domestic destinations, Jeju drew the most demand, followed by Busan, Seoul, Sokcho and Gyeongju.
The travel industry is also expanding supply on popular short-haul routes such as those to Japan to match the brief holiday. Hana Tour will deploy charter flights operated by Parata Air, Peach Aviation and Air Seoul on the Osaka route between the 23rd and 25th of next month. On the Sapporo route, it plans to run products departing daily from the 23rd to the 26th using charter flights from Jeju Air and Eastar Jet.
"Given the nature of this year's holiday period, bookings concentrated on nearby destinations with flight times of around five hours," a Hana Tour official said. "We plan to expand charter flight deployment focused on routes with high demand."
