Korea Consumer Agency Reports Surge in Mask and Travel Inquiries Amid COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seung-jin] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), consumer consultations related to overseas travel, masks, and wedding services surged last month.

The Korea Consumer Agency and the Korea Consumer Organization Council announced on the 18th that an analysis of consumer consultations received by the '1372 Consumer Counseling Center' last month showed a total of 67,359 consultations, an increase of 16.9% compared to the previous month and 35.6% compared to the same month last year.

The largest portion of the consultations was related to overseas travel (5,284 cases), mainly involving contract postponements or cancellations due to COVID-19, where businesses refused these requests or imposed penalties.

Next were consultations related to health and hygiene products (4,321 cases), mostly concerning masks, with many issues about delivery delays and price or quality problems for products purchased through e-commerce.

Compared to the previous month, consultations related to wedding services increased the most by 907.6%. Consultations related to health and hygiene products (392.7%), dining out (314.7%), air passenger transport services (94.6%), and hotels and pensions (84.6%) also surged.

Compared to the same month last year, consultations related to health and hygiene products increased sharply by 6,547.7%, with dining out (884.3%) and wedding services (774.7%) also seeing significant increases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.