Travel demand high in Korea ahead of long weekends

Outbound travelers wait in a check-in line at Incheon International Airport on Thursday ahead of the long Labor Day weekend. [YONHAP]

The pent-up travel demand is pouring out in late April and May as trip-hungry travelers plan for spring vacations over the long weekends.

Labor Day, Children’s Day and Buddha’s Birthday all come in the next five weeks, resulting in three long weekends: April 29 to May 1, May 5 to 7 and May 27 to 29.

The number of reservations for overseas package tours in May surged 1,229 percent on year, according to the travel agency Hana Tour on Wednesday. Trips to Japan had the most bookings, followed by trips to Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan.

Ticketing platform Interpark announced that its overseas package tour reservations for next month grew by 3,000 percent on year. It was 43 percent higher than the pre-Covid levels in May 2019.

“Good weather, three holidays and the pent-up travel demand accounted for the surge,” a spokesperson for Interpark said.

The number of overseas May trip reservations by Modetour jumped 750 percent on year as well. Simple packages that allow people to solely enjoy the trip itself — with no designated hours for shopping and no tips required — led the growth, the travel agency’s spokesperson said.

The demand for trips within Korea also rose.

Westin Josun Seoul’s rooms are nearly full for the Children’s Day weekend, according to Josun Hotel and Resorts Wednesday. Westin Josun Busan and Jeju had 90 percent of its rooms sold out for the same weekend.

Lotte Hotel announced that 80 percent of rooms in Signiel Seoul, Signiel Busan and Lotte Hotel Jeju are booked.

Strong travel demand pumped up the number of jobs in the tourism industry.

Some 40,000 new employees were hired in travel agencies and travel-related service sectors in the latter half of last year, according to Korea Statistics. The figure was a 25 percent increase on year. The number of new recruits in the lodging industry stood at around 157,000, up 32.2 percent on year.

BY BAEK IL-HYUN, CHOI SUN-EUL [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]