One in Three Koreans Took a 'Walking Trip' Last Year... Jeju Olle Trail Most Popular, Haeparang Trail Highest Satisfaction

61.6% of All Respondents Say They Would Participate in Walking Trips in 2022 Regardless of COVID-19
Walking Trip Experience Rate Recovers to Pre-COVID Levels...Continuous Increase Among Youth

Survey on Walking Travel. Photo by Korea Tourism Organization

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] One in three Koreans experienced walking travel last year. The most walked travel route was the Jeju Olle Trail.

The Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 19th the results of the '2021 Walking Travel Survey,' conducted through online and household visit interviews targeting 4,000 people aged 15 and older nationwide from December 10 to 30 last year.

Last year's walking travel experience rate was 35.2%, an increase of 2.0 percentage points compared to the previous year. This suggests that the walking travel population is gradually recovering to the pre-COVID-19 (2019, 37.0%) level.

Breaking the perception that walking travel is preferred mainly by middle-aged and older adults, the participation rate of young people in walking travel also increased. The walking travel experience rate for people in their 20s was 34.7%, up 1.4 percentage points from 2020, and for those in their 30s, it was 40.0%, up 1.5 percentage points from 2020. The reasons for participating in walking travel were answered as "improving physical health (67.6%)," "communing with nature (52.3%)," and "stress relief (50.9%)." While middle-aged and older adults emphasized improving physical health, young people tended to prioritize stress relief.

Survey on Walking Travel. Photo by Korea Tourism Organization

The most chosen walking travel routes by walking travelers last year were "Jeju Olle (16.6%)," "Haeparang Trail (8.3%)," and "Galmaetgil (5.1%)" in that order. When selecting walking travel destinations, respondents considered the attractiveness of natural scenery (91.5%), diversity of sights (88.8%), course management status (88.3%), and trail safety (88.1%) as important factors.

The usage type of walking travel routes showed that day trips accounted for 69.4%, more than twice the overnight trips (30.6%). The proportion of day trips has been increasing, from 42.8% in 2019 and 54.8% in 2020, which is interpreted as an effect of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, awareness of the 'Korea Dulle-gil' (Haeparang Trail, Namporang Trail, Seohaerang Trail, DMZ Peace Trail), promoted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, increased by 3.3 percentage points from 16.7% in 2020 to 20%, showing a continuous rise since the survey began in 2018.

Jung Yong-moon, head of the Leisure Tourism Team at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "In preparing for the post-COVID-19 era this year, we will newly promote projects such as the 'Korea Dulle-gil Rest Area' to enable walking travelers to travel more conveniently on the Korea Dulle-gil, and widely publicize the charm of walking travel through active promotional marketing considering the demand characteristics of each generation."

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