With this year's Chuseok holiday shortened, more travelers are turning to nearby destinations such as Korea or Japan. Rather than tacking extra vacation days on both ends to take long-haul trips abroad, people are opting for 2- to 3-night itineraries to nearby places, and demand is rising for relaxing stays at good accommodations.
On the 31st, Hotels.com analyzed lodging search data for this year's Chuseok holiday from Sept. 24 to 27 and found that 2- to 3-night itineraries accounted for about 60% of total nights. That is about 10 percentage points higher than about 50% last year, when the holiday was longer.
The average length of stay is not long. Overseas trips averaged about 2.5 nights, and domestic trips about 1.8 nights. The shortened holiday appears to have increased demand for short trips of around 2 to 3 nights.
Interest focused on places where travel time is relatively short. The most searched destination by Korean travelers ahead of the Chuseok holiday was Tokyo, Japan. Jeju ranked second, followed by Fukuoka, Osaka, Gangwon, Seoul, Busan and Okinawa. Eight of the top 10 destinations were in Korea and Japan.
A similar pattern appeared on other travel platforms. In a Skyscanner survey of 1,000 Korean travelers, respondents said they planned to use an average of 2.9 personal leave days around this year's Chuseok. Using that, they could take up to eight days off, but the actual planned travel period averaged only 3.3 days.
The most common reason for not using all their vacation time on travel was "to get enough rest before returning to daily life after the trip," cited by 61%. Chuseok's popular destinations searched on Skyscanner were also led by relatively short-haul parts of Asia such as Japan, Vietnam and China.
Although trip durations have shortened, there is a tendency to prefer higher-rated accommodations. During the Chuseok holiday period, 4- and 5-star hotels accounted for more than 60% of total nights searched on Hotels.com. Looking at 4-star hotels alone, the share was 43%. By accommodation type, hotels were searched the most, followed by resorts and aparthotels.
Perceptions of holiday travel have also changed. In the Skyscanner survey, 61% viewed travel during holiday breaks positively. That is nearly double compared with 32% a decade ago. The share who said they plan to travel during this year's Chuseok holiday also came to 56%.
What people consider important in travel is shifting from visiting landmarks and taking photos to rest and local experiences. Compared with three years ago, 56% of respondents—more than half—picked "pleasant weather and pristine natural scenery" as more important.
Interest in food or culture that can only be experienced locally was also high. Responses saying "seasonal local food" has become more important came to 38%, and "experiencing the local lifestyle" to 32%. By contrast, "visiting famous landmarks and must-see attractions" was 30%, and "taking photos for social media" was 23%.
If there were no budget constraints, the top trip people most wanted to enjoy this holiday was "relaxation at a luxury high-end resort," at 27% of all responses. With limited time available for travel, demand appears to be growing for rest and local experiences at nearby destinations rather than touring multiple attractions.