'Outdoor No-Mask' Effect... Small Business Sales Up 7.3% from Previous Week

19.7% Increase Compared to Last Year

On the 3rd, citizens are enjoying an outing without masks at Yeouido Hangang Park in Seoul, where the spring weather was clear and free of fine dust. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] With the lifting of the outdoor mask-wearing mandate due to COVID-19, small business owners' sales have increased.

According to the data portal of Korea Credit Data, which manages nationwide small business card sales information, the average sales of small business owners nationwide during the one week immediately after the lifting of the outdoor mask mandate (May 2?8) increased by 7.3% compared to the previous week (April 25?May 1). Compared to the same period last year, this is a 19.7% increase.

Looking at the average sales growth rate of small business owners after the social distancing measures were lifted on April 18, the first week (April 18?24) saw a 13.7% increase, and the second week (April 25?May 1) saw a 16.6% increase, indicating that the sales growth was greater after the outdoor mask mandate was lifted.

Nationwide mobility also significantly increased during the one week immediately after the lifting of the outdoor mask mandate, surpassing levels before the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to an analysis and announcement by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 11th, based on mobile phone mobility data provided by Statistics Korea and S Telecom, nationwide mobility in the third week after the lifting of social distancing (May 2?8) was recorded at 283.25 million cases. This is an 11.0% increase compared to the previous week (April 25?May 1), which had 255.16 million cases. Last week was the first time nationwide mobility returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.

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