SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean companies and duty-free shops remain jittery over China’s threats that the deployment of a high-tech U.S. missile defense battery on South Korean soil would wreak havoc on their business, industry sources said Thursday. With Seoul and Washington pushing ahead with the deployment in defiance of China’s strong [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Make-up products accounted for more than half of the annual sales at duty-free shops in South Korea last year, fueled by brisk demand from foreign tourists immersed in Korean entertainment culture, data showed Thursday. The combined cosmetics revenue from duty-free chains, including top players Lotte Duty Free and Shilla [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Chinese tourists have become an indispensable asset for domestic tourism, accounting for roughly 60 percent of all individual travelers to Korea, and over half of all customers at local duty-free stores. But as is the case for all popular tourist destinations, misbehaviors and an apparent lack of respect for [...]
SEJONG, Feb. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – Commission fees given by duty-free shops to travel agencies increased sharply to reach nearly 1 trillion won (US$872.4 million) last year on heated competition to attract more foreign travelers, customs data showed Thursday. Twenty-two local duty-free operators paid a combined 967.2 billion won to tourist agencies and guides in [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Operating a duty-free store is a highly lucrative venture, and the few five-year licenses granted by the government are usually hotly contested. However, authorities have finally decided to raise the special commission imposed on duty-free store operators, which has been frequently criticized for being unusually low, by up to [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 16 (Korea Bizwire) – The duty-free stores that have newly opened in Seoul have seen operating losses this year as heavy marketing costs in the highly competitive market eroded their profitability, their financial documents showed Wednesday. Five duty-frees stores opened new shops in the capital city after winning licenses in two bids — [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Sales at South Korea’s duty-free stores rose 36.4 percent in the first nine months of this year from a year earlier on increased buying by foreign tourists, especially Chinese, data showed Thursday. Sales at 50 duty-free stores nationwide came to 8.93 trillion won (US$7.9 billion) in the January-September period, [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Chinese travelers in their 20s and 30s have emerged as the key customers for South Korean duty-free stores as they are enticed by Korean pop culture and shopping experiences here, industry officials said Monday. Local duty-free shops in the past mostly generated revenue from middle-aged Chinese travelers who bought [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Shinsegae Group and a joint venture between Shilla Hotel and Hyundai Development said Wednesday that they will apply for a new duty-free license to open new stores in Gangnam, the most affluent district in the capital city. HDC Shilla Duty Free said it has picked iPark Tower in Gangnam, [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Sales at South Korea’s duty-free stores reached an all-time high in July thanks to a rising influx of Chinese travelers and last year’s low base in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, data showed Tuesday. Sales at duty-free stores nationwide reached US$954 million last month, [...]