COVID-19 confines recreational gatherings in Seoul to familiar, less crowded, and neighboring urban areas

Recreational gatherings can spread infectious diseases, yet their dynamics are complex due to interactions between people and places. Using customer motel booking records in Seoul, Republic of Korea—closely tied to recreational activities—the study identifies recreational hierarchy, geographical distance, and attachment to a location as crucial factors shaping recreational gatherings. After the COVID-19 outbreak, people were more likely to visit familiar places, avoided the highest hierarchy hotspots, and traveled shorter distances. Notably, visitation decreased not only at the highest hierarchy level but also in low-level regions, with low-level urban areas more severely affected than high- and middle-level areas.