Mass exodus for Seollal holiday begins in Korea
Arirang News
2018-02-15
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Back here in Korea, the Lunar New Year, or Seollal, is one of the nation's biggest holidays, and it starts today.
Traditionally people visit relatives, which for millions and millions of Koreans... involves a drive of several hours.
This year, with the Olympics in PyeongChang, the highways and trains are extra jammed, as our Cha Sang-mi reports.
Also called Seollal, the Lunar New Year is one of Korea's most important holidays.
This time of year, there's a mass exodus from the big cities as relatives all gather to celebrate the new year together.
The Korea Transport Institute estimates that more than 32 million people will travel during this four-day weekend, around a million people more than last year.
The biggest reasons for the rise, experts say, are that tolls on the nation's expressways are being waived from Thursday through Saturday and people are going to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
A daily average of 4-point-2 million vehicles are expected on the roads over the four-day break. And on Lunar New Year's Day -- Friday -- that'll jump to 5-point-4 million.
Trains are another option for those who don't want to be stuck in traffic.
"KORAIL has reported that 860-thousand seats, almost half of the total available, were sold during a pre-Seollal sale over two days in January. And behind me, crowds of people are lining up to buy the last few available seats."
Which explains why it wasn't easy for some visitors to PyeongChang to get to the Olympic venues.
"We bought these KORAIL tickets from the travel agency in Finland in December and then we started booking the seat tickets in January. And part of it it was ok, but then we have some days especially coming back when we don't have any ticket yet - no seat no standing tickets."
Some have decided to book way earlier or just come back after the holiday is over.
"I booked the tickets earlier via a smartphone app. I'm going home to Daegu."
"I'm going to Ulsan with my baby by KTX. There were no tickets left on Seollal Day, so we will come back to Seoul next Tuesday."
For a lot of people, it'll be tough booking tickets or making that long roadtrip, but they'll tell you it's worth it once they're reunited with family.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
Traditionally people visit relatives, which for millions and millions of Koreans... involves a drive of several hours.
This year, with the Olympics in PyeongChang, the highways and trains are extra jammed, as our Cha Sang-mi reports.
Also called Seollal, the Lunar New Year is one of Korea's most important holidays.
This time of year, there's a mass exodus from the big cities as relatives all gather to celebrate the new year together.
The Korea Transport Institute estimates that more than 32 million people will travel during this four-day weekend, around a million people more than last year.
The biggest reasons for the rise, experts say, are that tolls on the nation's expressways are being waived from Thursday through Saturday and people are going to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
A daily average of 4-point-2 million vehicles are expected on the roads over the four-day break. And on Lunar New Year's Day -- Friday -- that'll jump to 5-point-4 million.
Trains are another option for those who don't want to be stuck in traffic.
"KORAIL has reported that 860-thousand seats, almost half of the total available, were sold during a pre-Seollal sale over two days in January. And behind me, crowds of people are lining up to buy the last few available seats."
Which explains why it wasn't easy for some visitors to PyeongChang to get to the Olympic venues.
"We bought these KORAIL tickets from the travel agency in Finland in December and then we started booking the seat tickets in January. And part of it it was ok, but then we have some days especially coming back when we don't have any ticket yet - no seat no standing tickets."
Some have decided to book way earlier or just come back after the holiday is over.
"I booked the tickets earlier via a smartphone app. I'm going home to Daegu."
"I'm going to Ulsan with my baby by KTX. There were no tickets left on Seollal Day, so we will come back to Seoul next Tuesday."
For a lot of people, it'll be tough booking tickets or making that long roadtrip, but they'll tell you it's worth it once they're reunited with family.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
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