The number of travelers taking domestic trips has risen from a year earlier ahead of the coming summer peak season. With Constitution Day (July 17) designated again as a public holiday starting this summer, accommodation booking rates for the period have also increased.
Nol Universe said Thursday that domestic accommodation bookings this summer rose 68% from the same period last year. Bookings for camping, caravan, and glamping accommodations increased 102%, indicating expanded travel demand for nature-based leisure. The findings are based on Nol Universe's own analysis of booking data from July 1 to August 31, measured by stay and usage dates.
By region, Gangwon State accounted for the highest share of bookings at 23%, followed by Jeju State (11%) and Busan (9%). In Gangwon, various areas including Samcheok, Donghae, and Hongcheon drew even popularity, showing travel demand spreading across the entire province.
The day with the most check-in bookings this year was Constitution Day (July 17), which was reinstated as a public holiday after 18 years. This year's Constitution Day falls on a Friday, allowing office workers to enjoy a three-day golden holiday including the weekend.
Designated as a national holiday in 1949, Constitution Day was excluded from public holidays starting in 2008 after the introduction of the five-day workweek, and recently became a public holiday again. This followed the State Council's approval in April of a partial amendment to the "Regulations on Public Holidays for Government Offices," which designates Labor Day and Constitution Day as public holidays for government offices and applies substitute holidays.
Japan Most Popular Overseas Destination
The most popular overseas destination was Japan, accounting for 35% of airline ticket bookings. Vietnam (21%) and Indonesia (5%) followed. Among overseas tours and activities, the Sapporo Biei-Furano bus tour, the Osaka Nankai Rapit one-way ticket, and Universal Studios Japan admission tickets ranked among the top bookings.
In the concert category, "PSY Summer Swag Busan" topped the list, while in the sports category, professional baseball games and the "2026 LoL Mid-Season Invitational (MSI)" ranked among the top. In the exhibition category, "Beyond Impressionism: Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso" recorded the highest bookings.
Domestic travel demand has been noticeably rising recently. The number of domestic trips taken by Koreans in the first quarter of this year was approximately 85.13 million, up about 17% from the first quarter of last year. According to the "2026 National Travel Survey First Quarter Results (Preliminary)" recently released by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, the number of domestic trips in the first quarter was 85.138 million, up 16.7% from 72.983 million in the same period a year earlier. By trip type, day trips (63.7%) were the most common, followed by one-night, two-day trips (26.7%) and two-night, three-day trips (7.7%).
