The latest government decision to designate May 6 as an extra holiday to pave the way for a four-day break is expected to sharply drive up people's leisure activities, as well as their reservations for domestic or overseas travel, local online shopping sites said Thursday.
As the government has designated an extra day off between Children's Day on May 5 and the weekend, Koreans are rushing to make reservations for travel to Jeju Island or neighboring countries such as China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, according to data from major online shopping sites.
Travelers at Incheon International Airport (Yonhap)
"The designation of May 6 as a temporary holiday allows most salaried workers to enjoy a four-day holiday from May 5-8. The sale of airline tickets and bookings for hotels, condos and vacation resorts increased sharply these past days," a Gmarket spokeswoman said.
The designation was aimed at stimulating sluggish domestic consumption, a major stumbling block to the country's growth in recent years.
From April 25-26, sales of those travel products was nearly four times higher than in the same period last year. Sales more than doubled compared to a week earlier, Gmarket said.
During the April 25-26 period, sales of camping equipment like tents, sleeping bags and cookware also jumped 41 percent from a year earlier and 36 percent from a week earlier, it said.
Another online shopping mall Ticket Monster, or TMON, said sales of overall travel products jumped 25 percent from April 25-27 compared to a week earlier. (Yonhap)