SEOUL, March 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Both the participation rate and the number of companions for walking tours declined last year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization carried out a survey of 2,000 Koreans aged over 15.
The share of the respondents who said they had participated in a walking tour last year stood at 33.2 percent, down 3.8 percentage points from a year ago.
By age, the participation rate declined for those in their 40s and above but rose for those in their 30s and below. The participation rate for those aged over 70 years plunged to 5.8 percent last year from 23.9 percent in 2019.
In response to a question asking why they hadn’t participated in a walking tour, the largest share of the respondents at 43.5 percent cited ‘no time due to busy schedule,’ followed by 28.9 percent who said it could be dangerous, and 27.1 percent who said ‘due to COVID-19.’
As for the reason why they chose to participate in a walking tour, 64.1 percent cited ‘communion with nature,’ followed by ‘enhancement of physical health’ at 63.4 percent and ‘stress relief’ at 56.2 percent.
The number of companions for the walking tours fell to 3.27 last year from 4.57 in 2019. By type of companions, family members ranked first at 60.1 percent, followed by friends at 30.3 percent and girlfriend or boyfriend at 12.8 percent.
Image Credit: Yonhap / Korea Tourism Organization / photonews@koreabizwire.com
