Travel in South Korea

Outbound travel rises strongly, whilst inbound travel also recovers

A significant increase in outbound and domestic trips drove a strong positive performance in travel in South Korea in 2018, since leisure travel continued to be an important trend, with consumers keen to spend time with family and friends. In addition, arrivals slowly recovered from the strong decline in Chinese travellers in 2017, as political tensions between neighbouring China and North Korea eased.

Mobile travel sales are becoming increasingly common

Mobile transactions are becoming increasingly common in South Korea, with more widespread daily usage in the country. Not only travel intermediaries, but also airlines and lodging companies are actively developing user-friendly mobile platforms, which is leading to a huge increase in mobile travel sales to residents, resulting in the strong growth of total online travel sales.

Low-cost carriers outperform both in domestic and international flights

Low-cost carriers stands out amongst travel operators, recording rapid growth in both domestic and international flights. For domestic flights, scheduled airlines have already been overtaken by low-cost carriers, and the proportion of low-cost carriers in international flights is also increasing rapidly.

The sharing economy is gaining popularity in travel

The popularity of the sharing economy is rising rapidly amongst the younger generation. Airbnb has attracted a great deal of attention, as one of official supporters of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, and for providing short-term rentals to visitors from all around the world.

Travel is expected to record continuing strong growth

The forecast period is expected to see continuous growth in travel, benefiting from the ongoing growth in outbound and domestic travellers. In addition, government activities regarding tourism, to attract inbound travellers from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, to reduce the high dependency on China, is expected to lead to the healthy growth of arrivals over the forecast period.

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