Toy stores over theme parks
Kakao COVID-19 Report, Part 5
The Kakao COVID-19 Report uses Kakao’s service data to give us a perspective on how we are trying to maintain our lives and create a new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from January to June 2020, from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, healthcare, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact, were analyzed to create the Kakao COVID-19 Report. Our findings on the new normal, as are detailed in the Kakao COVID-19 Report, will hopefully be used as reference when building new strategies and policies for the future.
Part 1 is about how our lives have changed since the outbreak of COVID-19, told with data from Kakao’s many services.
Part 2 provides a more in-depth analysis by focusing on media and content consumption.
Part 3 is an observation of changes in peoples’ lives at home, seen with e-commerce and healthcare service data.
Part 4 is about how people moved around during COVID-19, by looking at data from mobility services.
In Part 5, we will see how our mobility patterns have changed during our travels and daily lives. These results were derived by analyzing user data of navigation and map search services. One word sums up the mobility patterns during our travels and in our daily lives after COVID-19, “safety”. More now than in the past, people travel to nearby travel destinations and relatively safer rural regions to reduce the risk of catching COVID-19. Furthermore, people refrain from visiting highly-condensed locations in their daily lives.
Here, we will look at how people have traveled during COVID-19.
# More travel to nearby, safer rural locations
Due to the spread of the coronavirus, more people are staying at home (refer to Kakao COVID-19 Report Part 3) and moving less (refer to Kakao COVID-19 Report Part 4). However, this does not mean that people are cooped up at home all the time.
Though our analysis does not comprise the data of the departures and destinations of the people living in all regions of Korea, we analyzed the travel patterns of people who departed from Seoul. Figure 5-1 illustrates the frequently visited destinations of cars that left Seoul from February to June of 2019 and 2020, using Kakao Navi data.
Cars that left Seoul traveled more to regions neighboring the Seoul metropolitan area, including Yangyang, Pyeongchang, Goseong and Hanam. Trips to these destinations increased by 10% compared to the previous year. It appears that people have a newfound appreciation for nature and the aforementioned regions these specific places are well-known for their fresh air, mountains, forests and beaches.
On the other hand, the number of cars that set Jung-gu in Incheon and Jeongseon in Gangwon-do as their destination dropped by more than 30%. Jung-gu is home to Incheon International Airport and Jeongseon is where Gangwon Land Casino is located. Trips to these two destinations have decreased due to restrictions imposed after COVID-19. Nowadays, less people go to Jung-gu due to strict restrictions on international travel. Fewer go to Jeongseon as the Gangwon Land Casino has been closed temporarily in respect of measures limiting mass gatherings.
[Figure 1] Destinations most frequently visited from Seoul. (Feb. to Jun. 2019 vs. Feb. to Jun. 202# Increase in map service search for medical facilities
We also looked into the types of destinations that were searched on Kakao Map.
With data retrieved from Kakao Map, we categorized and compared the top 100 destinations in the second half of 2019 (third week of October) and in the first half of 2020 (fourth week of February). Compared to the second half of 2019, searches for community and medical facilities increased, while searches for sports/leisure and education facilities decreased. Destinations related to transportation were the most searched in both 2019 and 2020.
[Figure 2] Categories of the top 100 destinations searched on Kakao Map#Foreigners: Less travel to Incheon International Airport, more to Gimpo Airport
Where have foreigners in Korea traveled to during COVID-19?
Let's use the data from Kakao T Taxi’s foreign language versions to see where foreigners in Korea have been going to during COVID-19 (Refer to Figure 5-3). One noticeable change is that trips to Incheon International Airport have decreased since March as overseas travel has been impacted by the virus. The number of foreigners using subway Line 6 to Itaewon Station which was the most frequently visited station in March and April, dropped drastically after a cluster of COVID-19 cases were reported there in May. Trips to train stations, such as Seoul Station, where people can take domestic express trains, as well as to Gimpo Airport’s domestic terminal and to Jeju International Airport increased in May and June. These figures show that the demand for domestic travel has increased amongst foreigners in Korea.
[Figure 3] Destinations of Kakao T Taxi’s foreign language version users (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# Car movement patterns affected by social distancing
Destination searches made on Kakao Navi have been grouped into categories to see where people have driven to during COVID-19. We compared February to June of 2020 during COVID-19, with the same months in 2019 for an accurate comparison.
Visits to outdoor facilities, such as trails, golf courses and drive-in theaters, increased, while visits to highly-populated indoor facilities, such as fitness centers, traditional Korean spas and movie theaters, decreased. While people still went to indoor facilities for shopping, they avoided densely populated department stores and large shopping malls, and instead went to nearby stores, such as neighborhood convenience stores and variety stores.
In terms of public education facilities, people made less visits to universities and K to 12 schools and made more visits to private academic institutions and study rooms in 2020, compared to 2019. Visits to postpartum care centers and senior care facilities decreased, while visits to plastic surgeons and dermatologists increased.
1. Daily life: More visits to dog playgrounds/furniture stores, less visits to saunas and wedding halls
Visits to small but heavily populated indoor facilities, including traditional Korean spas (-33%), wedding venues (-29%), spas/saunas (-24%) and funeral homes (-15%), have decreased. Meanwhile, as people spend prolonged periods of time at home, visits to furniture stores (54%) and electronics stores (21%) have increased greatly. People have also made more frequent visits to places that provide personal care to customers, including nail salons (33%) and hair salons (24%).
[Figure 4] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Home and Life2. Shopping: More visits to convenience stores, less visits to duty-free shops
Trips to densely populated locations, including department stores (-16%), shopping malls (-13%), superstores (-5%) and outlets (-5%) have decreased. Visits to duty free shops (-65%), where people go to before traveling overseas, have dropped drastically. On the other hand, visits to conveniences stores (41%), variety stores (32%) and supermarkets (30%) have increased.
[Figure 5] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Shopping3. Education: More visits to study rooms/private academic institutions, less visits to schools
Trips to all types of schools, such as K-12 schools, colleges and universities, have decreased, as well as visits to locations that serve as supplementary educational resources, including science museums (-60%) and exhibition halls (-56%). On the other hand, trips by car to private academic institutions (14%) and study rooms (31%) increased.
[Figure 6] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Education4. Arts & culture: More visits to drive-in theaters, less visits to indoor facilities
Visits to indoor arts and culture facilities, including concert halls (-56%), memorial halls (-43%), cultural centers (-41%) and museums (-40%), have dropped dramatically. When it comes to movie theaters, visits to indoor movie theaters also dropped 53%, while outdoor drive-in theaters where people watch movies in the comfort of own cars, have thrived, with visits increasing by 112%.
[Figure 7] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Arts & Culture5-1. Sports & leisure: More visits to trails and golf ranges, less visits to indoor facilities
Visits to most indoor sports facilities, including fitness centers (-56%), swimming pools (-46%), culture centers (-39%) and sports centers (-33%), have decreased drastically. On the other hand, popularity of outdoor sports have soared, with visits to golf courses increasing by 20% and visits to golf driving ranges increasing by 40%. The inability to travel abroad is seen as a reason for the increase in people using golf facilities located in Korea.
[Figure 8] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Sports & Leisure5-2. Sports & leisure: More visits to camping sites/valleys, less visits to festivals/lodging facilities
Visits to lodging facilities, including hotels (-25%), guest houses (-22%) and resorts (-20%) have decreased. Trips to campsites, where people can enjoy outdoor activities, increased by 77%, while trips to valleys (43%), lakes (41%) and beaches (40%) increased as well.
[Figure 9] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Sports & Leisure6. Parenting: More visits to toy stores, less visits to theme parks
Visits to kids play areas (-55%), aquariums (-54%), zoos (-43%) and theme parks (-37%) decreased sharply, while visits to toy stores (62%) and baby and nursery goods stores (50%) have greatly increased. As daycare centers and kindergartens have temporarily closed, children are spending more time at home. This has prompted parents to make more trips to toy stores in order to provide their children with toys to play with at home.
[Figure 10] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Parenting7. Medical care & health: More visits to pharmacies/plastic surgeons, less visits to postpartum centers/senior care facilities
Visits to medical care centers have decreased in general, due to concerns of spreading COVID-19. There was a steep decrease in visits to centers occupied by people with weak immune systems, such as postpartum centers (-25%) and senior care facilities (-23%). Heightened caution paid to hand hygiene and mask-wearing also resulted in a decrease in visits to eye, nose and throat (ENT) clinics (-15%), where patients with respiratory-related symptoms are treated.
We also saw a drastic rise in visits to pharmacies (53%), where people went to buy masks. More people visited plastic surgeons (30%), dermatologists (27%) and ophthalmologists (18%) than before, as well as mental health clinics (17%), assumably due to the coronavirus blues.
[Figure 11] Kakao Navi destinations before and after COVID-19: Medical care & healthData Analysis and Methodology
- The Kakao COVID-19 Report analyzes data retrieved from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact.
- Methodology: The data are presented in the form of a graph to show proportional data or percentages, (%) in order to illustrate the changes that occurred before and after COVID-19. The data were retrieved from (either the first week or the entire month of) January to June 2020 and for some analyses, to September 2020. Some data were excluded.
- Example: The graph below shows that the number of users increased by 50% on the fourth week of April, compared to the number of users in the first week of January 2020. On the y-axis, values above zero (0) represent an increase in frequency, whereas values below zero (0) represent a decrease in frequency.
Kakao COVID-19 Report
Part 1: COVID-19 and Kakao Data
Part 4: Traffic Jams during COVID-19
Kakao aims for the results of the Kakao COVID-19 Report to serve as a resouce in overcoming times of crisis. We hope that the implications of our data analyses will be used in building wise and resilient strategies or policies to navigate uncertainties and explore new business opportunities.
All copyrights of the Kakao COVID-19 Report are reserved by Kakao Corporation. Kakao Corporation strictly prohibits the use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report for promotional, sales, or marketing purposes. Kakao Corporation authorizes the reproduction and use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report within the scope of the Copyright Act, provided that all copyrights are fully disclosed.
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