[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The number of new karaoke room openings, which was hit hard by the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), recorded an all-time low last year.
On the 19th, the Commercial Information Research Institute analyzed statistics from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and found that 389 karaoke room businesses opened nationwide last year, the lowest since related statistics began being compiled in 1987. Karaoke room openings have been declining for four consecutive years, from 1,424 locations in 2016 to last year.
On the other hand, karaoke room closures last year reached 2,137, the highest in 13 years since 2007 (2,460 locations). By region, Gyeonggi-do had the most closures with 524 karaoke room businesses shutting down, followed by Seoul (369), Busan (163), Daegu (141), Incheon (113), Gwangju (81), Ulsan (54), and Daejeon (46).
Researcher Hyuntaek Jo of the Commercial Information Research Institute analyzed, "Karaoke rooms were directly hit by the gathering ban orders due to the spread of COVID-19 last year," adding, "Because of the strong perception that these are enclosed spaces, openings decreased while closures increased significantly." He further forecasted, "Although the gathering ban orders were partially eased from the day before, allowing businesses to operate, the nature of karaoke rooms, where many people gather together, means that sales are unlikely to increase noticeably."
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