"More Comfortable with My Dog than Friends"… MZ Traveling with Pets [Youth Report]

Popular Pet-Friendly Travel
Domestic Airlines Strengthen Pet Services

Recently, more people are traveling with their pets rather than with family or partners. Unlike in the past when pets were left with acquaintances or pet hotels before trips, nowadays many plan and embark on journeys together with their pets. This trend appears to be linked to the rise of the 'Petfamjok' (Pet+Family), who regard their pets as family members.

MZ Generation Leading the Pet Travel Culture

[Image source=Pixabay]

As the number of pet owners in Korea approaches 15 million, nearly 30% of the total population, the number of travelers taking trips with their pets is increasing. According to the '2024 Pet Travel Status and Awareness Survey Report' released by the Korea Tourism Organization, 74.1% of respondents said they had traveled domestically with their pets within the past year. Additionally, 74.6% expressed willingness to travel with their pets in the future. Among these, mentions of pet travel on social networking services (SNS) surged 3.3 times in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2021.

The generation leading the pet travel culture is mainly women in their 20s and 30s. In fact, the pet travel platform 'Banryeosaenghwal' has 30-something women as its largest membership group at 33.5%, followed by women in their 20s at 22.7%. The age groups making accommodation reservations are also led by women in their 30s at 26.6%, followed by women in their 20s at 17.1%.

This summer vacation, office worker Lee (28) visited a pension in Gyeonggi-do with her dog and said she "made great memories." She said, "I was planning to travel alone because it was hard to coordinate schedules with friends, but I was quite worried about leaving my dog alone, so I took him along." She added, "The pension provided breakfast for the dog and pet supplies, so it was comfortable. Sometimes when traveling with friends, disagreements arise, but with my dog, I just had fun playing, so I felt at ease."

Domestic Airlines Start Catering to 'Pet Customers'

[Image source=Pixabay]

Domestic airlines are strengthening pet-specialized services in response to this trend. Eastar Jet expanded its in-flight pet accompaniment service, previously available only on domestic flights, to international flights starting last month. T'way Air also operates a pet travel service called 'T-Pet.'

Jeju Air has even prepared dedicated flights for dogs. This service allows two guardians and one dog to board together. Notably, Jeju Air reported that from January to July this year, there were 11,324 cases of pets traveling onboard, a 10.9% increase compared to the same period last year, and 2.7 times the 4,121 cases in 2019 before COVID-19.

Major domestic full-service carriers (FSC) are showing similar trends. Korean Air reported that pet-accompanied passengers reached 51,151 last year, increasing annually from 30,764 in 2021 and 39,260 in 2022. During the same period, Asiana Airlines also showed an upward trend with 22,548 cases in 2021, 25,109 in 2022, and 28,105 in 2023.

Pet Market Size Rapidly Growing... Same in China and Japan

[Image source=Pixabay]

Given this situation, the domestic pet business market is rapidly expanding. The Korea Rural Economic Institute projected that the related market, which was worth 3.7694 trillion KRW in 2021, will reach the 6 trillion KRW range by 2027.

This phenomenon is not limited to Korea alone. In China, where the concept of 'pets' was vague until the 2000s, the pet market is growing at a tremendous pace. Market research firm iMedia Research reported that China's pet market size grew from 97.8 billion yuan (about 18.4 trillion KRW) in 2015 to 592.8 billion yuan (about 111.73 trillion KRW) last year. It is expected that by 2030, the number of pets in China will increase to 70 million.

In Japan, the current pet population is 20 million, about four times the number of children under four years old, which is 5 million. According to a survey by Yano Research Institute released in February 2021, Japan's pet market size was 1.5705 trillion yen (about 16.7 trillion KRW) in 2019, showing growth every year since 2015.