More than half of Koreans said the recent hit travel reality shows “Youth over Flowers” and “Grandpas over Flowers” affected their plans for overseas travel, according to a recent survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization. The Korean overseas travel pattern survey showed that about 84 percent had watched the TV series and more than 64 percent said the series had affected their decision to travel overseas.

The tvN series featured groups of celebrities traveling in European countries, Taiwan, Laos and Peru, and fun episodes and adventures during their travels.

The survey asked travel-related questions to 1,000 Koreans above the age of 18 who had traveled to foreign countries.

Koreans tend to travel individually (36.3 percent) rather than in groups (28.4 percent) and spend an average of 5.4 days traveling overseas, down from 6.5 days last year. The top two travel destinations were the neighboring countries ― China and Japan. The most important factor in planning overseas trips was travel expenses (36.3 percent). The proportion of Koreans visiting Japan increased from 17.9 percent last year to 22.8 percent this year due to the decrease in travel expenses on account of the weak yen.

(wylee@heraldcorp.com)