Compared to the previous year, options for traveling to Japan have expanded by about 1.6 times
Recently, many companies have been encouraging long-term leave by promoting vacation use and implementing concentrated vacation systems, leading to an increase in office workers using their remaining annual leave to travel at the end of the year. Many parents are also preparing trips to create memories for their children during the winter break.
According to data from the Korea Tourism Organization's Data Lab, the number of domestic travelers who went abroad in the fourth quarter of last year was 6,520,116, which is 4.1% higher than the 6,264,250 travelers in the third quarter, which includes the summer peak season. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Aviation Information Portal System also recorded 6,953,361 international air passengers in December last year, accounting for 10.2% of the total international passengers for the year, marking the highest monthly passenger count.
On the morning of September 29, citizens are moving to check in at the Gimpo Airport departure hall in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
Among these trends, one of the travel destinations searched by Korean travelers in December that showed the highest growth rate compared to last year was small cities in Japan. On the 19th, Yanolja analyzed year-end overseas accommodation reservation data and found that the number of Japanese cities visited by Koreans increased by about 1.6 times compared to last year.
Looking at accommodation reservation data in Japan from December 23 to 31, the number of regions where travelers checked in was about 71. Compared to 44 regions during the same period last year, the options for traveling to Japan expanded by about 1.6 times. Excluding popular destinations with steady demand such as Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo, and Sapporo, many newly emerging cities appeared in the top 10 popular travel destinations.
Matsuyama, which had demand last year as well, saw about a fourfold increase in reservations this year. This is largely attributed to improved accessibility due to the active establishment of direct flight routes after the endemic phase.
Night view of Dogo Onsen, the oldest hot spring area in Japan. Official site of the Japan National Tourism Organization
Representative cities that have gained significant popularity compared to last year’s year-end are Kumamoto and Takamatsu. These two cities had no demand last year’s year-end but have newly entered the list of popular cities this year.
Meanwhile, airlines are competing to hold promotional events targeting the increasing year-end travel demand. These events feature not only simple airfare discounts but also various promotions such as mileage usage and buy-one-get-one-free offers, with boarding periods extended up to March next year.
Korean Air will operate special flights allowing priority ticketing with mileage on the Gimpo-Jeju route during specific time slots on December 28 and 30 this year and January 1, 2025. Air Busan is running a buy-one-get-one-free airfare discount promotion on all domestic routes until the 24th. Jeju Air is conducting a discount promotion on Vietnam route tickets available for boarding from December 1 to March 29 next year until the 30th.
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