More than three out of 10 Seoul citizens said they do not take part in cultural activities throughout the year, with a majority of them citing high costs as the reason, city data showed.

According to the survey by Seoul Metropolitan City, 65 percent of the respondents said they visited sports games or arts performances at least once. The other 35 percent said they had not engaged in any cultural activities.

The survey was conducted on about 50,000 citizens aged 15 and above from October 2011 to September 2012 to assist in devising future culture policies.

More than 40 percent of them picked “cost burden” as the main reason for not having a cultural life, followed by “lack of time” with 25 percent.

The data showed that the older the respondent was, the more they felt the expense burden, particularly those in their 40s.

While the most preferred leisure activity during the holidays was “traveling” with 29.4 percent, the most common activity actually done was “watching television or DVDs” with 43.7 percent.

Among cultural activities, watching movies at theaters had the highest participation rate with 57.3 percent, followed by watching theater performances, going to sporting events and visiting museums.

Traditional arts and music or ballet performances, on the other hand, were rated as least popular, with citizens having attended events 0.28 times and 0.09 times on average, respectively.

By age, those in their 20s had the highest attendance of the arts and sporting events with 91.1 percent.

Those in their 60s were shown to be the least culturally active, with only 27.2 percent participating.

Companions to enjoy cultural events with also varied among the age groups, with those in their 30s and over choosing family, and teenagers and those in their 20s picking friends and romantic partners.

Meanwhile, citizens’ overall satisfaction with the city’s environment for cultural activities increased to 48.9 percent last year, double the proportion of 2006.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)