"A Gift to Myself: Using Up Every Last Day of Annual Leave on an Overseas Trip" Year-End Bookings Surge 138%... Thought It Was Japan Again, But...

December Overseas Travel Bookings Surge 138%
Modetour Leads in Share of December Southeast Asia Bookings
South Korean Travel Industry Struggles to Attract Southeast Asia Travelers This Year
Recent Rise in Fuel Surcharges a "Wild Card"

With the winter peak season approaching, the travel industry is pulling out all the stops to revive demand for warm-weather destinations in Southeast Asia. Demand for Southeast Asia has been hit by the effects of fluctuations in fuel surcharges stemming from the war in the Middle East, which have persisted throughout 2026. As a result, recovering that demand has emerged as a key factor that will determine fourth-quarter performance.

With the winter peak season approaching, the travel industry is pulling out all the stops to bring travelers back to warm-weather destinations in Southeast Asia.

According to industry sources on October 20, Mode Tour's internal figures showed that overseas travel bookings for departures in December 2026 received from October 1 to 11 rose 138.2% from the same period in 2025. Southeast Asia accounted for the largest share of bookings by region at 36.8%, followed by Japan at 30.6% and China at 19.7%. Southeast Asia's share was 12.5 percentage points higher than its 24.3% share of bookings for November departures, reflecting the seasonal preference for warm-weather destinations during the cold winter months.

There were also signs of a preference for Vietnam, a leading destination in Southeast Asia. An analysis by Yellow Balloon Tour of package tour bookings for the 2026-27 winter season, covering November and December 2026, showed that Vietnam ranked third at 12.8%, after Japan at 50.5% and China at 22.8%. Phu Quoc accounted for more than 30% of bookings among destinations in Vietnam, making it the most popular.

Southeast Asia has long been one of the key markets generating revenue for South Korea's travel industry, after Japan and China. December through February, when demand for warm-weather destinations grows and more families travel with children on winter break, is considered a prime period for attracting travelers to Southeast Asia.

However, the industry has struggled to attract travelers to Southeast Asia from the second half of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026. In October 2025, online scam crimes in Cambodia became a national issue, hurting travel demand for Cambodia and neighboring parts of Southeast Asia. This year, fuel surcharges rose rapidly amid the effects of the war in Iran, shifting demand toward short-haul destinations such as Japan and China and making it difficult to attract customers for package tours to Southeast Asia.

"As fuel surcharges have risen, more travelers have felt that trips to Southeast Asia are expensive, as are long-haul destinations such as Europe and the Americas," an industry source said. "This year, that demand has shifted to Japan and China."

In fact, Hana Tour's customer numbers for Southeast Asia were almost unchanged from 2025 through the first quarter of 2026, but fell 15.3% year over year in the second quarter and 26.5% in the third quarter. Mode Tour also saw the number of Southeast Asia package travelers decline 34.9% in the second quarter and 44.0% in the third quarter from the same periods in 2025. As a result, Southeast Asia's share of Mode Tour's travelers, which had exceeded 50% as recently as 2024, fell to 43.7% for all of 2025 and dropped to the 20% range from May 2026.

With the winter peak season approaching, travel companies are preparing package tours and related promotions, and plan to ramp up sales starting in November. Hana Tour will resume charter flights to Siem Reap, Cambodia, operating them for a limited period from late December 2026 through late February 2027. It will also offer tours of the Angkor Wat ruins and packages designed for people in their 20s and 30s. Mode Tour also plans to make every effort to secure bookings for Southeast Asia packages through promotions and new product launches next month. Yellow Balloon Tour will also offer benefits through an early-bird promotion tailored to demand for winter travel.

However, the industry expects fuel surcharges to rise for a third consecutive month, making this a potential variable, and is closely monitoring the situation.

On October 16, the fuel surcharge for international flights in November rose from level 23 in October to level 27. With this increase, the surcharge for major Southeast Asian destinations such as Hanoi, Cebu and Da Nang will rise by 6,700 won per person from the previous month, while fares to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Guam, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, among other destinations, will rise by 9,400 won. The increase over a single month may seem small, but compared with March 2026, when fuel surcharges were set at a lower level, the surcharge for Phu Quoc rose from 39,000 won to 162,400 won in November 2026, an increase of more than 120,000 won. This means a family of four will have to pay nearly 500,000 won more in November 2026 than in March.

"This year's fuel surcharge issue has shortened the booking lead time, or the period between purchasing a travel product and departure. The unwritten rule used to be three months for relatively short-haul destinations such as Japan, China and Southeast Asia, and six months for long-haul destinations such as the Americas and Europe, but those lead times have shortened," an industry source said. "Travelers may wait to see what happens with fuel surcharges next month before booking at the last minute, so we plan to run promotions with that possibility in mind."

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