More than half of the population in South Korea will travel next week during the Lunar New Year holiday.

According to a forecast released by the transport ministry on Tuesday, 27-point-eight million people are expected to travel during the six-day special traffic measures period from February 13 to 18, for a daily average of around eight-point-three million trips.

Although the total estimate is 13-point-three percent lower compared to last year, the daily average is predicted to jump nine-point-three percent due to this year's shorter holiday period.

Thirty-one-point-four percent of South Koreans plan to travel domestically or abroad during the holiday, of which 89-point-four percent were looking to travel within the country, the ministry said.

Among domestic travelers, 86-point-one percent will likely get around via passenger vehicles, putting estimates regarding daily average traffic on the nation's expressways at around five-point-25 million, up 14-point-one percent from last year.

An average of six-point-two million vehicles are expected to hit the expressways on Lunar New Year Day, up eleven percent year-on-year.

Estimates show that it will take seven hours to travel from Seoul to the southeastern city of Busan on February 15, and five hours and 40 minutes to reach Mokpo in the southwest.

For drivers returning to the capital on February 17, it could ten hours if departing from Busan and nine and a half hours from Mokpo.

Expressway tolls will be exempt from February 15 through 18.

Authorities said 242 sections of the nation's expressways and roads will be designated as congestion zones and placed under comprehensive traffic measures while 21 new sections are opened to vehicles, along with shoulder areas spanning 294 kilometers.

Operations of buses, trains, airplanes and passenger ferries will be increased by 12-point-seven percent and the number of seats by nine-point-seven percent.