Around 3 p.m. on the 29th, at Lotte Duty Free's main store in Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. When a large chartered bus stopped in the parking lot, about 40 Chinese tourists got off at once. The tourists received shopping bags containing small gifts, took commemorative photos, then headed to the duty-free store using a separate elevator. A Lotte Duty Free official said, "We have visits by around 1,700 people scheduled today alone in sequence. That means more than 40 of these large buses are coming."
Shinsegae Duty Free's Myeong-dong store, about a 10-minute walk away, was also busy welcoming Chinese tourists. Holding red shopping bags printed in Hangul and Chinese with the character for "fortune" (福), they took commemorative photos and then browsed products throughout the store.
To boost tourism to Korea, the government from this day through Jun. 30 next year allowed Chinese group tourists (youke·游客) of three or more, recruited by designated domestic and overseas travel agencies, to visit Korea visa-free for 15 days. Jeju Island will maintain its previous policy allowing both individual and group tourists to enter visa-free for 30 days.
With this policy, the government expects about 1 million additional Chinese tourists to visit Korea by Jun. 30 next year. In particular, the first week of October coincides with China's biggest holiday, the National Day Golden Week (Oct. 1–7), raising expectations across the retail industry.
Myeong-dong, which ChosunBiz visited that day, bustled with crowds of foreign tourists. At the exit of a CJ Olive Young store, which has seen a surge in foreign visitors in recent years, foreign tourists continuously streamed out carrying light-green bags full of cosmetics. Inside the store, English posters introduced displayed items by section. Staff moved quickly, restocking cosmetic shelves that were emptied in no time.
At a nearby Daiso store, a notice at the entrance said that WeChat Pay was available. Foreigners could easily be seen browsing a variety of items, including cosmetics, throughout the store. The store had two staffed checkout counters and six self-checkout machines, but they could not keep up with the crowds, and the checkout line stretched about 10 meters.
A CU convenience store in central Myeong-dong had a dedicated display stand for Binggrae's Banana Flavored Milk, a favorite among foreign tourists, set up directly facing the entrance. Next to the stand, a detailed recipe for "banana latte," which mixes Banana Flavored Milk and coffee and once went viral overseas on social media (SNS), was written in English.
The retail industry is moving quickly to roll out tailored events in response to visa-free entry for youke. Duty-free operators launched large-scale promotions to attract customers. The Shilla Duty Free is offering up to 60% off cosmetics and giving bouquets. Lotte Duty Free has increased the share of brands favored by Chinese customers, centered on the Myeong-dong main store, and expanded mobile payment promotions such as Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Also, Lotte Duty Free and The Shilla Duty Free each drew about 2,000 passengers from the 77,000-ton Dream, a large ship of Tianjin Orient International Cruise making its first call at Incheon Port that day, to their Myeong-dong main store and Seoul store, respectively. Shinsegae Duty Free's Myeong-dong store also attracted about 1,500 youke arriving by air. In collaboration with WeChat Pay and Wow Korea, it is offering discounts and giving customers who spend $300 or more a bag emblazoned with the character for "fortune."
Department stores also strengthened benefits tailored to Chinese tourists. Lotte Department Store is running discounts for customers paying with Alipay and WeChat Pay, and Shinsegae Department Store is offering coupons and instant discounts to users of WeChat Pay and UnionPay cards. Hyundai Department Store is seeking to attract group tourists through joint promotions with travel agencies and hotels.
Fashion and beauty specialty channels are also busy courting foreign shoppers. Musinsa is giving gifts to customers who write reviews on "Gaode Map," a widely used Chinese mapping app, at its Musinsa Standard stores, and is offering discounts to Alipay+ users. Olive Young has increased deployment of multilingual staff and installed instant tax-refund terminals in stores nationwide.
Convenience store chains also ramped up benefits centered on Greater China payment systems. GS25 offers a 15% discount for Alipay and UnionPay payments. CU, in partnership with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), combined a tax refund with a cashback event. 7-Eleven gives both its own coupons and Lotte Duty Free coupons to customers making their first WeChat Pay purchase.
Big-box chains are moving quickly as well. Lotte Mart will host a "K-Food Festa" at key foreigner-focused stores such as Seoul Station, Jamsil, Busan and Jeju, and plans to draw tourists by running K-beauty sales and placing multilingual notices and promotional materials for recommended products.
A retail industry official said, "In a sluggish domestic economy, a large influx of Chinese group tourists is like rain after a long drought," adding, "Many companies are rolling out various promotions to attract foreign tourists and are expecting a boom driven by China."