This is the result of a tourism trend analysis by Kyowon Tour Travel Easy Group, just announced on July 8.

The results of the analysis of Tourism Trends in the third quarter of 2024 announced by Kyowon Tour Travel Easy Group on July 8 showed that Vietnam ranked first among the favorite foreign tourist destinations of Koreans, surpassing even Japan.

According to travel booking data analysis, Vietnam and Japan remained the two destinations where Korean tourists had high booking demand in the third quarter of this year, while the number of Korean tourists to China also improved, thanks to many airlines resuming and expanding flights to China during the summer.

Thailand, a country that has always been a favorite of Korean tourists, dropped to fourth place with 9% and Mongolia to fifth place with 7.1% of bookings. Mongolia is considered a unique travel destination for the Millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 2010). Mongolia’s friendly infrastructure development seems to have increased its popularity among Korean tourists.

Short-distance travel destinations account for 80% of total bookings during the peak summer travel season in 2024, especially during the Chuseok holiday, the biggest holiday of the year for Koreans. The reason is that Koreans mainly choose travel destinations where they can go on vacation without incurring too much of a financial burden.

Booking data shows that this year’s Chuseok holiday, which runs from September 14 to 22, is expected to see the highest demand for overseas travel. During this period, Japan ranked first with 17% of bookings, followed by China with 14.7% and Vietnam with 14.4%.

In addition to short-haul destinations in Southeast Asia and Japan, Eastern Europe also has high seat occupancy.

According to Travel Easy, due to the impact of high inflation, more and more customers choose short-distance foreign tourist destinations during the holidays or take vacations early to avoid peak seasons, in order to reduce the burden of expenses.