South Korean tourists favor Vietnam for Lunar New Year festival: tour operators
Vietnam is still a favorite tourist destination for South Korean travelers on the upcoming Lunar New Year, which falls on January 22 and is celebrated by Koreans as Seollal.
South Korean tourists favor Vietnam for Lunar New Year festival: tour operators
South Korean tourists on a luxury cruise ship in Nha Trang Bay, central Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Emperor Cruises Origin Nha Trang
Data from travel agencies in South Korea shows that the demand for overseas travel of people in the country during the Seollal is high even though the holiday only lasts four days.
As of the beginning of January 2023, travel agencies sold 80% of the total air tickets that they prepare for the holiday.
Favorite destinations selected by Korean travelers include Japan, Vietnam, and some other Southeast Asian countries.
An official of Korea’s travel agency Modetour said that it sold about 87% of tickets departing during the Lunar New Year festival, of which tickets to Japan’s Osaka sold the fastest.
Hanjin Travel also confirmed that all tickets for charter flights to Japan’s Kagoshima province departing during the holiday this year were sold.
Due to the short holiday period, tourist destinations near Korea such as Japan and Southeast Asian countries are very popular.
According to Hana Tour Company, as of January 9, its tours starting from January 20 to 24 were booked with 54% to Southeast Asia, 30% to Japan, and 7% to Europe.
Specifically, in Southeast Asia, 36% of its clients choose Vietnam, 17% choose Thailand, 12% choose the Philippines and 7% choose Taiwan.
The South Korean tourism industry considers these very positive signs of recovery since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
A survey by major tour operators in the country shows that more than 80% of products that they planned to offer during the lunar new year holiday have been welcomed by customers.
An official from Lotte Tour said that so far all of its plans are still in progress without any changes or problems. Compared to three years ago, this is the recovery starting from zero to 100.