Koreans ditch costly getaways to stay home for vacation

A beach in Gangneung, Gangwon, is relatively vacant on Sunday amid rain forecasts. [YONHAP]

Despite heatwaves and the first post-pandemic summer without mask mandates, skyrocketing vacation costs are encouraging most Koreans to stay home.

Rising accommodation fees are driving vacationers away. Hotel prices rose 11.1 percent on year in June, according to Korean Statistical Information Service data Monday. It climbed for a fourth consecutive month, following a 10.8-percent on-year increase in May, 13.5 percent in April and 13.7 percent in March.

Rental condo fees jumped 13.4 percent on year last month in the wake of 6.4 percent, 6.6 percent and 10.8 percent increases across the previous months.

“Our family thought of going on a vacation during the peak season when it’s easy to match our schedules, but the high fees made us rethink our break for September,” a 32-year-old surnamed Park said.

The Parks initially planned on a coastal getaway to Busan for a three-day trip in the first week of August but were demoralized after finding out that a five-star hotel of their choice charged 550,000 won ($420) per night. In September, the same room cost less than half that price at 230,000 won.

The same went for a four-star hotel, which charged 330,000 won in August and 134,000 won in September.

The Covid-19 pandemic has stopped the family’s summer breaks over the past three years, but sky-high prices are the hurdle this year, added Park.

Other excursion fees are also on the rise. Amusement facility prices hiked 6.8 percent in June, while swimming pools, performing arts and sports matches advanced 3.9 percent, 6.3 percent and 11.7 percent respectively.

Purchases from restaurants became 6.3 percent more expensive. In terms of popular menu items, pork belly rose 5.4 percent, spare ribs 6.4 percent, raw fish 6.5 percent and duck meat 9 percent. Beverage prices also surged: soju 7.3 percent, beer 6.4 percent and makgeolli (Korean rice wine) 4.4 percent.

These increases comfortably outpaced Korea’s overall consumer price growth in June which dipped below 3 percent for the first time in 21 months to 2.7 percent.

Soaring prices left people searching for accommodation with cooking facilities or bringing food from home rather than dining in restaurants at vacation sites.

Most people, like the Parks, were unable to come up with a getaway plan because they could not lock in a date or find an acceptable price.

Of the 3,000 people aged between 20 and 69 surveyed by an online research firm PMI on Friday, seven out of 10 said they had no plans for a summer vacation.

The top two reasons for having no vacation plans were difficulty in time coordination, at 35.4 percent, and financial burden, at 34.8 percent. Some other reasons included health problems and the inability to leave work.

When asked what they plan on doing if they end up not going on a vacation, 46.8 percent said they will watch TV shows or movies, 18.3 percent said shopping, 18 percent working out and 10.6 percent playing video games.

“Despite inflation dropping below 3 percent, concerns about consumer prices linger over service prices,” said Lee Eun-hee, a consumer science professor at Inha University.

“Accommodation fees are likely to spike during the summer holiday season. District governments need to monitor overcharging lodgings,” Lee added.

BY YI WOO-LIM [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]