Would You Go All the Way to Daegu to Buy a Book? This Place Saw a 300% Surge in Navigation Searches

[Financial News] Some people deliberately travel to a bookshop just to buy a book. At one neighborhood bookshop in Daegu, where the owner selects books based on personal taste and hosts reading groups, the number of TMAP destination settings has jumped by more than 300% in a year. Neighborhood bookshops are emerging as new destinations after transforming from places that simply sell books into venues where visitors can enjoy unique spaces and experiences.
Tmap Mobility said on the 30th that it analyzed destination-setting data for major neighborhood bookshops nationwide from January through August this year and found that demand for travel to distinctive bookshops had increased significantly.
The largest increase was recorded by Daegu's Ilgeulchaek. The number of destination settings rose by more than 300% from the same period last year. The bookshop offers book curation reflecting the owner's tastes and hosts a variety of reading groups.
Goyangi Hoegwan in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, also saw a 151% increase. Housed in a renovated former village community center, it is, as its name suggests, a cat-themed book café. Visitors can enjoy not only books about cats but also related artwork and items.
Ofduck in Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province, recorded a 147% increase. Visitors can browse a variety of accessories and souvenirs alongside books. Podo Chaekbang, a shared bookstore in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, where several booksellers select books according to their individual tastes, also saw a 48% increase.
What these bookshops have in common is that they do more than simply sell books. The owners curate books themselves, host reading groups and book talks, and offer the bookshop's distinctive local character and space as an experience in its own right. The Text Hip trend, in which people enjoy reading and books as an expression of personal taste, appears to be expanding into the practice of seeking out bookshops that suit them.
However, not all neighborhood bookshops are growing rapidly. The number of TMAP destination settings for bookstores nationwide rose 2.7% from 757,500 in January-August 2024 to the same period the following year, and remained in the 700,000 range this year. Destination settings for neighborhood bookshops increased 0.8% from 2024 to this year. Because the number of destination settings also differs from the actual number of visitors, it is more appropriate to view it as an indicator of travel demand from people seeking out bookshops.
A Tmap Mobility representative said, "More users are visiting distinctive neighborhood bookshops directly as each shop offers differentiated spaces and experiences," adding, "We will continue to monitor changes in the spaces people seek out and mobility trends through driving data."



[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter