Record Numbers of Koreans to Travel Abroad Over Long Break

More than 1 million Koreans are expected to head overseas for the long break in early May when several holidays create essentially a whole week off work.

The break lasts effectively from Saturday, April 29 across the week with Labor Day on May 1, Buddha's Birthday on May 3, Children's Day on Friday, May 5 and the following weekend.

Korea's top travel agency Hana Tour said 59,000 overseas trips have been booked for the period, 2.5 times more than the same dates last year. At Mode Tour, the nation's No. 2, booking are up 63 percent.

At this rate, the number of overseas travelers could surpass 1 million to reach a new record over the week.

Only about 500,000 Koreans traveled abroad over the Lunar New Year and Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving.

One striking fact this season is that the bookings to China have dropped sharply amid a Chinese boycott over Korea's decision to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here.

Instead, booking are up to Japan and Southeast Asia, while trips to the U.S., Europe and Australia are also popular because the nine-day break makes longer flights a viable option.