[News Terms] Genuine About Travel, Exercise, and Culture: 'Homo Motus'

Meaning of 'Moving Human' in Latin
Leisure Activities Surge After Pandemic Suppression

On the morning of the 1st, the departure hall of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport is bustling with passengers embarking on their travels to celebrate the New Year. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] As the endemic atmosphere matures with discussions on easing quarantine measures and lifting the indoor mask mandate, 'Homo Motus' is attracting attention as one of the New Year's trends. 'Homo Motus' is Latin for 'moving human.' It refers to people who pursue dynamic daily lives such as overseas travel, exercise, and cultural activities.

Recently, demand for various leisure activities has been rapidly increasing. Demand for overseas travel is clearly recovering, centered on countries like Japan, where visa-free entry resumed on October 11 last year. This year, demand for long-haul routes to the Americas and Europe is also expected to recover significantly.

According to aviation statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of passengers using routes between Korea and Japan from October to November last year was 638,189. This is a 4040.9% increase compared to 15,412 passengers during the same period a year earlier. During the same period, passengers on routes to the Americas also increased by 219.6%, from 115,788 to 370,060.

Domestic travel demand is also high. According to Kakao's 'Mobility Report,' which analyzed mobility trends over the past four years from the pandemic to the endemic using Kakao Navi movement data, movements to camping sites (118%), pensions (57%), hotels (30%), and resorts (22%) have shown an increasing trend since the endemic.

Cultural and leisure activities are also recovering to pre-COVID-19 levels. Musicals and classical music, in particular, have gained popularity. According to statistics from the Korea Performing Arts Integrated System (KOPIS), ticket sales in the musical sector, which had the highest market share (79%) in the performance market last year, reached 182.6 billion KRW in the first half of the year, surpassing the first half of 2019 before COVID-19. Even in the third quarter, known as the 'off-season' due to overlapping summer vacation, ticket sales increased by 119% compared to 2019, achieving record performance. According to the Mobility Report, visits to museums (7%), exhibition halls (16%), science centers (18%), art galleries (35%), and aquariums (41%), which had decreased in the first and second years of COVID-19 compared to 2019, showed a clear increase last year.

The theater sector also showed growth, with both the number of performances and ticket sales increasing compared to 2019, before the pandemic. The Arts Management Support Center projected that the performance market size last year would exceed 800 billion KRW, recorded in 2019. Total ticket sales from January to September last year amounted to approximately 345.1 billion KRW, an increase of 75.9 billion KRW compared to 269.2 billion KRW in 2019. Experts expect consumption in leisure activities such as travel, exercise, and culture to remain active this year as well.