"The designation of May 6 as a temporary holiday allows most salaried workers to enjoy a four-day holiday from May 5-8. The sale of airline tickets and bookings for hotels, condos and vacation resorts increased sharply these past days," a Gmarket spokeswoman said.

The designation was aimed at stimulating sluggish domestic consumption, a major stumbling block to the country's growth in recent years.  

From April 25-26, sales of those travel products was nearly four times higher than in the same period last year. Sales more than doubled compared to a week earlier, Gmarket said.

During the April 25-26 period, sales of camping equipment like tents, sleeping bags and cookware also jumped 41 percent from a year earlier and 36 percent from a week earlier, it said.

Another online shopping mall Ticket Monster, or TMON, said sales of overall travel products jumped 25 percent from April 25-27 compared to a week earlier. (Yonhap)