Big Data Commercial Area Analysis Platform 'Finda OpenUp' Analysis
Last Year's Average Wedding Hall Sales 530 Million KRW... 24% Increase
Although the number of wedding halls has steadily decreased in recent years due to the decline in marriages, a survey revealed that the sales of wedding halls have increased significantly.
On the 9th, the big data commercial district analysis platform 'Finda OpenUp' announced that the average sales per wedding hall nationwide last year was approximately 530 million KRW. This amount represents a 23.8% increase compared to the previous year's average sales of 428 million KRW. It is also 2.6 times higher than the 210 million KRW recorded in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak, and more than double the amount in 2019, before the pandemic.
The average sales of wedding halls were 249 million KRW in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak, decreased the following year, but rebounded to 271 million KRW in 2021, then rose sharply to 400 million KRW in 2022, and exceeded 500 million KRW last year. The sharp increase in average sales is analyzed to be due to the rise in wedding costs and the decrease in the number of wedding halls, which led to an overall increase in sales.
Total sales of wedding halls decreased from 222 billion KRW in 2019 to 166.4 billion KRW in 2020, then rose to 212 billion KRW in 2021, and continued to increase to 320.8 billion KRW in 2022 and 388.8 billion KRW in 2023. Meanwhile, the number of wedding halls has been steadily declining. According to the National Tax Service's National Tax Statistics Portal, the number of wedding halls nationwide last year was 733, down by 17 from 750 two years ago. The number of wedding halls nationwide has continuously decreased over the past five years: 890 in 2019, 828 in 2020, and 783 in 2021.
The sales growth trend of wedding halls has continued this year as well. According to Finda OpenUp, total sales of wedding halls nationwide in January reached approximately 65.5 billion KRW, a sharp increase of 40.3% compared to the same period last year. By region, all 16 metropolitan cities and provinces except Sejong, which was the only area to see a decrease in sales, showed growth. Sales in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul (36.2 billion KRW), Gyeonggi (10.3 billion KRW), and Incheon (2.1 billion KRW), accounted for 77% of the total.
In Seoul, which accounts for more than half of the nationwide wedding hall sales, Gangnam-gu, known as the "wedding mecca," had the largest sales volume at 10.4 billion KRW, followed by Yeongdeungpo-gu (5 billion KRW), Seocho-gu (3.8 billion KRW), Songpa-gu (3.2 billion KRW), and Gwanak-gu (2 billion KRW). These five districts accounted for 56.6% of Seoul's sales, more than half. Additionally, the Honam region showed notable sales growth, with Jeonnam increasing by 188%, Jeonbuk by 124%, and Gwangju by 66%.
Meanwhile, contrary to the increase in wedding hall sales, the number of marriages is declining. According to Statistics Korea's "December 2023 Population Trends" and the National Statistical Portal (KOSIS), the provisional number of marriages last year was 193,673, a 40% decrease compared to 323,807 in 2013, ten years ago. Regarding reasons for not marrying, 32.7% of people in their 20s, 33.7% in their 30s, and 23.8% in their 40s cited "lack of marriage funds" as the most common reason in 2022.
According to the "Marriage Cost Report" released last month by the matchmaking company Duo, a survey of 1,000 newlyweds who married within the last two years showed that the total wedding cost was 297.48 million KRW. By category, housing accounted for the largest portion at 242.99 million KRW, followed by dowry at 15.64 million KRW, wedding hall at 12.83 million KRW, wedding gifts at 7.58 million KRW, honeymoon at 7.25 million KRW, wedding jewelry at 6.73 million KRW, wedding package (studio, dress, makeup) at 3.6 million KRW, and gifts to the bride's family at 860,000 KRW.
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