'코로나 탓에 휴폐업'…노래방•골프연습장 가장 많았다

Singing rooms, screen golf, and DVD rooms in South Korea were the businesses hit hardest by COVID-19 in the second quarter of this year.
But pharmacies, convenience stores, and opticians did relatively well.
Kim Jae-hee reports.
Singing rooms, screen golf, and DVD rooms were affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter of this year.
According to a recent report released by the Korea Development Institute, 784 singing rooms, screen golf, and DVD rooms closed in the April to June period this year. That's 309 more than in the same period last year.
This is up point-72 percentage points on-year, which is the steepest rise out of all industries.
The second worst-hit businesses were entertainment bars.
The closing rate for the second quarter was up point-51 percentage points from a year earlier.
As for the travel industry, 79 more businesses closed in the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year, up point-one percentage points on-year.
Meanwhile, pharmacies, convenience stores, and opticians actually did well in the second quarter.
Fewer pharmacies closed in the second quarter this year compared to last year, as people who were reluctant to go to hospitals visited pharmacies instead,... and bought more masks and hand sanitizer.
The KDI says the governments' disaster relief funds only had an impact on some industries.
"The effect of the emergency disaster relief funds was significant in the semi-durable goods sector and small in the service sector. This is because even with the relief funds, consumers still refrained from spending at places that require face-to-face-contact and have a high risk of infection."
The report also showed while the governments' relief funds distributed in May did contribute to a rise in consumption, the effect faded away in about a month.
Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.