More Koreans plan to travel long-distance next year

More Korean tourists will be traveling long-distance to the United States and Europe for next year’s first quarter, and their most popular departure day is Monday, according to analysis by Ticket Monster (TMON) on Tuesday.

The e-commerce site looked through over 50,000 reservations scheduled between January and March. A notable change compared to last year was that far-off cities such as Hawaii, New York, London and Rome joined the list of top 30 destinations.

The rise of long-distance travelers was also noted in the list of top popular sites for the Lunar New Year’ holiday, which falls between Feb. 15 and 17 next year, combine with a Sunday on the 18th. The top three locations for the previous New Year’s holiday this year were all in Japan. Two from the list appear on next year’s, as Guam, a U.S. territory, and Da Nang in Vietnam placed second and third. Osaka remained in first place, while Hawaii shot up to 10th place from 34th. Sydney and Frankfurt were also previously ranked outside 30th place but are now 12th and 16th for the upcoming national holiday season.

TMON said the demand increase for longer flights was based on cheaper plane tickets, partly thanks to discount and promotion events offered by foreign carriers.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]