”The people are going overseas” - Why South Korea decided not to hold the special holiday...

In South Korea, the mid-autumn celebration (Chuseok, or Chuseok) holiday continues for about a week, but the South Korean government did not designate Friday, the 10th, which could have been a "super-long golden holiday," as a special public holiday because of past special holidays.
According to a report recently published by the Bank of Korea entitled "BOK ISHOO Note: The Impact of Weather and Days of the Week on Consumption as Seen through High-Frequency Data," the effect of holidays on promoting consumption has been poor.
In the case of the 2023 mid-autumn celebration (October 2nd) and the 2025 Lunar New Year (January 27th) holidays, which included special holidays, there was little change in payment card usage before and after the holidays.
It was found that card spending increased by more than 10% compared to previous years, but then fell by 5-8% immediately after the holidays. The Bank of Korea said, "The longer the holidays, the more people spent.
This is not a case of a sudden shift in consumption, but rather a "period substitution effect" where consumption is brought forward.
There was no clear difference in the overall consumption scale for the four weeks before and after the holidays. In other words, the designation of the holidays as temporary holidays did not lead to an "increase in total consumption."
During the mid-autumn celebration holiday in 2023, consumption of face-to-face services such as eating out increased by 4.4%, but during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2025, it actually decreased slightly. In particular, demand for overseas travel increased sharply during the same period.
As a result, consumption has shifted to overseas rather than domestic. In fact, the number of departures in January 2025 was 2,973,000, a 7.3% increase from the same month last year, marking a monthly record high.
Tourism spending fell 1.8%. The Bank of Korea analyzed that "during long weekends, including special public holidays, there is a strong tendency for spending to be shifted to overseas rather than domestic consumption."
In this way, long holidays not only bring about changes in the consumption structure, but also place a burden on productivity in the industrial workplace.
In fact, exports in January this year were $49.13 billion, down 10.2% from the same month last year, and production in all industries, including mining, manufacturing, services, and construction, also fell 3.8%.
The National Assembly Legislative Research Service explained, "While it cannot be said with certainty that the decline in production was entirely due to the temporary holidays, it is possible that the reduction in the number of working days played a part."
The government has designated "sandwich holidays" (weekdays sandwiched between public holidays) as temporary holidays to stimulate domestic demand. However, despite such policies, the effect of stimulating domestic demand has not been as expected.
The National Assembly Legislative Research Service said, "When the number of public holidays increases, there is a clear tendency for overseas consumption to shift from domestic consumption," and "Instead of temporary holidays, we should expand substitute holidays and change the days of the week."
"We need practical measures to supplement the situation, such as introducing a designated system," he said. Meanwhile, according to the Incheon International Airport Corporation, the number of people departing from overseas during the mid-autumn celebration holiday period reached approximately 2,453,000.
The average number of passengers per day during the holiday period is expected to be 223,000, a 2.3% increase from last summer's peak period, which was the highest ever.