With the lifting of social distancing measures, online shopping in travel and culture sectors has completely recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
 
According to Statistics Korea data on Friday, online shopping transactions in the month of May jumped ten-point-five percent on-year to nearly 17-point-three trillion won.
 
By sector, travel and transportation services skyrocketed more than 97 percent from a year earlier to one-point-five trillion won, higher than that of May 2019 before the pandemic.
 
Online shopping of culture and leisure services surged 165 percent to an all time high of 263 billion won.
 
However, purchases of food services recorded an on-year decline of three-point-seven percent as food deliveries decreased with more people going out to eat. This marks the first ever drop in online food purchases since record keeping began.
 
A Statistics Korea official said that with distancing curbs all lifted, more people are dining out rather than using delivery apps.
 
Meanwhile, mobile shopping, or transactions made through smartphones and other mobile devices, increased 14-point-six percent to 12-point-eight trillion won in May, accounting for more than 74 percent of total online shopping.