SEOUL, June 27 – The number of trips South Koreans made within national borders last year marked a sharp drop amid the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, reported this Sunday the Korea Institute of Culture and Tourism (KCTI).
It is estimated that Koreans made 225.19 million domestic trips in 2020, a drop of 34.7% from the previous year, detailed the KCTI in a study based on a survey of more than 50,000. people.
The report shows that Koreans took an average of 4.95 tourist trips last year, up from 7.61 times in 2019.
Their spending per person plunged 45.7% to 530,000 won ($ 470) in 2020. The average budget per trip also fell 18.8% to 109,000 won.
Local tourists spent the most in January 2020, averaging 770,000 won per person, according to the study, which is well above the 568,000 won spent in July and 573,000 won in August.
The survey therefore shows that the tourism sector in Korea has been hit hard by the pandemic.
The country confirmed its first case of Covid-19 on January 20, 2020 and the number of contaminations exploded at the end of February, especially in the Daegu region.
The average number of visitors to Korea’s 5,569 major tourist sites was only 103,464 last year, a drop of 47.2 percent from 2019.
(Yonhap)
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