Image: Hurshimchung Spa ()
Dongnae’s hot springs, one of the city’s most popular well-being spaces, have begun to recover to close to pre-COVID-19 levels.
The hot springs industry was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic, as customers stayed away as well as forced closures due to quarantine measures.
According to Hotel Nongshim, there were 683,000 Heosimcheong users between January and November of this year.
This is more than double the 310,000 annual users last year and 1.6 times more than the 405,000 people in 2020.
The number of users is rapidly increasing as the cold wave began earlier this month. Hot springs are a business that is heavily influenced by the weather, and the largest number of users are in the fall and winter.
Heosimcheong expects at least 814,000 annual users this year if this trend continues. This is 79% of the figure in 2019, before COVID-19 and they expect to recover to the pre-corona level next year.
Opened in 1991 with a total area of 1,300 pyeong and 1,800 cabinets for men and women, it boasts the largest scale among domestic hot springs.
Among the 40 types of baths with different effects, the open-air bath where you can enjoy outdoor hot springs, and the beer bath made with craft beer are famous.
Dongnae Hot Spring has the highest magnesium content among domestic hot springs, and the water temperature is close to 70 degrees, so it is known to be good for neuralgia and skin diseases.
Along with Heo Simcheong, ‘Geumcheon Park Hot Spring’, which is considered one of the top three hot springs in the district, also saw a 30-40% increase in visitors compared to last year.
Daeseongtang, another Dongnae hot springs business, also said that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of customers visiting the hot springs recently.
The number of hot springs is gradually decreasing due to the post-COVID-19 recession and changes in bathing culture.
The number of Dongnae Hot Spring locations also decreased by 35% from 26 in 2014 to 17 this year.
