Travelers heading home for Chuseok board on a train at Seoul Station, Wednesday, a day before the extended six-day holiday is set to begin, Thursday. Yonhap
Over 40 million people in Korea are expected to hit the road to visit their hometowns for family reunions or take trips during the nation's extended six-day holiday known as "Chuseok," which officially begins on Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Wednesday, the number of Koreans expected to be traveling as of Wednesday to next Tuesday is estimated to be over 40.2 million, which is around a 26.7 percent increase from last year.
This year's Chuseok falls on Friday, with the holiday originally running from Thursday to Sunday. But a six-day extended break was declared as the government designated Monday a temporary holiday, thereby bridging it to National Foundation Day ― another public holiday ― that falls on Tuesday.
According to the ministry, traffic congestion is expected to peak on Thursday morning, which is the day most people will depart, and on Friday and Saturday afternoon, when they are expected to return home.
The ministry expects around 5.3 million vehicles to be on the highway each day during the holiday season, down 4.3 percent from a year earlier, but a 12 percent jump from the usual traffic average during the weekend at 4.7 million.
The estimated time from Seoul to the southern coastal city of Busan, 428 kilometers away from the capital, will be around 10 hours and 10 minutes, the ministry said. The trip is expected to take eight hours and 40 minutes for the respective journey back to Seoul from Busan.
The ministry designated a four-day special traffic-monitoring period from Thursday to Sunday, during which all drivers are exempted from expressway toll fees.
The government first introduced the toll-free policy for Chuseok in 2017 and has enforced the measure almost every Chuseok and Lunar New Year season to revitalize the domestic economy when people visit their hometowns and travel over the long holiday.
The extended holiday period will also spur a major increase in air travel and outbound tourism.
Visitors arrive at Jeju International Airport in Jeju Island, Wednesday. The southern resort island expects to receive over 285,000 visitors during this year's Chuseok holidays, according to Jeju Tourism Association. Newsis
Over 1.66 million people are expected to travel by air ― 1.33 million taking domestic flights while 330,000 will fly internationally ― nationwide during the six-day holiday, according to Korea Airport Corp. (KAC), which operates 14 airports nationwide except Incheon International Airport.
According to global online travel company Klook, Korea’s outbound travel bookings for this Chuseok holiday season jumped 568 percent compared to the same period last year.
The company saw that the increase was driven by the extended length of the holiday, which can be further prolonged to 12 days with the use of annual leave. Bookings to the Americas and European countries saw sales jump with a 283 percent year-on-year increase and a 24 percent improvement from this year’s summer vacation peak season in August.
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