Card spending soars 35% during Chuseok holidays

By Yonhap

Published : Oct. 15, 2017 - 14:27

Credit and debit card spending in South Korea soared more than 30 percent over the recent extended Chuseok holiday season from a year ago, industry data showed Sunday.

A daily average of 191.8 billion won ($170.1 million) worth of purchases were made through credit and debit cards during the Sept. 30-Oct. 9 holidays, up 35.8 percent from the 141.2 billion won average tallied during the Chuseok holidays last year, which fell mid-September, according to the data compiled by KB Kookmin Card Co.

(Yonhap)

The figures are also 37.5 percent higher than the 139.6 billion won recorded over the Lunar New Year holiday this year.

At the same time, overseas card spending also shot up 49.3 percent to 393.6 billion won from last year's Chuseok season, as a record-breaking number of people went overseas to enjoy the 10-day holiday.

According to separate data, an estimated 1.02 million South Koreans left the country during the period, compared with 322,000 last year. (Yonhap)