Overseas-Seeking Travel Joks Turning Their Eyes to Domestic Travel?

BC Card ABC Report No. 16

An analysis has revealed that travelers who used to seek overseas destinations are now turning their interest to domestic travel.

According to BC Card on the 23rd, there was a sharp increase in sales in industries related to domestic travel last month. While sales in the transportation and leisure sectors soared, sales in other sectors such as medical and education declined.

Sales in the transportation sector, mainly used for domestic travel, increased significantly. Last month, ferry sales rose by 53.3% compared to the previous month and surged 122.1% compared to the beginning of the year. Travel agencies’ sales last month increased by 13.3% compared to March and by 4.7% compared to January. Last month, rental car and express bus sales increased by 6.3% and 4.1%, respectively, compared to the beginning of the year.

With the rise in domestic travel demand, the leisure and cultural sectors are also booming. Last month, accommodation sales increased by 8.8% compared to the previous month. Sales in the culture and sports sectors last month rose by 34.1% and 15.5%, respectively, compared to March. In contrast, medical sector sales decreased by 7.7% compared to the previous month, marking the largest decline, followed by education (6.4%), pubs (5.5%), and fuel (2.8%).

In fact, the number of overseas travelers is decreasing. According to the Tourism Knowledge Information System’s outbound tourism statistics, the number of tourists who traveled abroad in March was 2.14 million, down 14.7% from February (2.51 million). Compared to the beginning of the year (2.77 million), it decreased by 22.7%.

Woo Sang-hyun, Vice President of BC Card (Head of the New Finance Research Institute), stated, “In the past three months, the dollar, which surged to 1,400 KRW during trading hours, along with most foreign currencies such as the euro and yuan, has also been on the rise, making overseas travel inevitably burdensome. It seems that travel demand has recently increased for domestic tourist destinations that can be visited even during short holidays that do not include weekends.”