S. Koreans enjoying the Lunar New Year holidays in a variety of different ways

We're in the middle of a long break in Korea for the Lunar New Year, or Seollal.Traditionally this time of year, Koreans have left the big city and gone back to their hometowns to see family, but that's not always true now.Our Hong Yoo takes a look at how, holiday-wise, things are changing. On Seollal, the Lunar New Year, many Koreans spend time with their relatives to share their blessings for the year ahead. That usually involves many hours of traveling... with the highways being jammed with cars and buses carrying people who are returning to their hometowns.But in recent years, instead of spending Seollal in the traditional way, more and more Koreans have started traveling abroad to enjoy their holidays elsewhere."During the Seollal holidays which runs from February 1st to 5th, around 41 thousand people will travel abroad which is a 10 percent increase from last year. More than half those people are visiting South East Asia, followed by other neighboring countries like China and Japan."According to HanaTour, the number of people traveling abroad has been on an upward trend over the last 5 years,... and those going on vacation during the Seollal holidays are mostly traveling as a family.There are also others that are choosing to relieve their stress, which often comes from the food preparations for Seollal,... by relaxing in hotel rooms that are running various holiday promotions and events.The growing phenomenon of people enjoying time off at a hotel without leaving the city is called "hocance" in Korea."What people call 'hocance" is a huge trend and since then, the number of customers that visit our hotel during the national holidays have jumped four-fold from what we see on normal weekends." Tourism industries will continue to offer more packages tailored for Koreans who are looking to enjoy the holidays the way they want to, instead of following the norms.Hong Yoo, Arirang News.