This Chuseok holiday lasts seven days, but by taking just one day off on Oct. 10, people can rest for up to 10 days. Two out of five Korean people plan to take at least one day trip during the holiday. However, about half of the public appears likely to stay home without visiting their hometown.
Korea Gallup asked in a poll conducted nationwide of 1,002 people ages 18 and older from the 23rd to 25th and released on the 26th whether they had plans for a one-night-or-more hometown visit (including reverse homecoming) or travel this Chuseok.
As a result, 11% said they had plans for both a hometown visit and travel. Those who said they would visit only their hometown came to 31%, and those who said they would travel only were 7%. Those with neither plan were 51%.
A total of 18% said they had travel plans. In Korea Gallup's past surveys, the share who had travel plans during the Chuseok holiday was 6% in 2016, 1% in 2020, 3% in 2021, and 9% in 2022.
When asked, "Are you happy that the Chuseok holiday is approaching?" 70% of respondents said they were happy. In surveys conducted by Korea Gallup from 2001 to 2022, those saying the Chuseok holiday was happy ranged from 53% to 60%, but this time it reached 70% for the first time. Those saying they were not happy came to 22%. In past surveys it was 26% to 40%.
By age, those in their 20s (18–29, 83%) and 30s (81%) were more likely to say they were happy. Those saying they were not happy were higher among people in their 60s (37%) and those 70 and older (34%).
Among men, 73% said the Chuseok holiday made them happy and 19% said they were not happy. Among women, 66% said they were happy and 25% said they were not. The share saying they were happy was highest among men in their 40s at 87%, while the share saying they were not happy was highest among women 70 and older at 37%.
In a 2022 survey by Korea Gallup, the share saying they were happy was in the 60% range among those who rated their standard of living as upper/upper-middle, middle, and lower-middle, and 44% among the lower class. In this survey, it was 80% for the upper/upper-middle, 74% for the middle, 66% for the lower-middle, and 48% for the lower.
Korea Gallup said, "Compared with three years ago, the higher the standard of living, the greater the improvement in 'holiday mood.'" It added, "In this survey, 61% of those in the lower tier of living standards are 60 or older," noting that this "indirectly shows the economic and social marginalization experienced by the elderly poor."
This survey was conducted through live interviewer calls to randomly generated mobile phone numbers. The margin of sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with a contact rate of 47.9% and a response rate of 11.4%.