Lotte Chilsung Beverage said the cumulative number of visitors to the "Cheoeum Cheoreom & Saero brand experience center," which it operates at the Gangneung plant, exceeded 45,000 as of March. It came about three years after its opening in April 2023.
According to Lotte Chilsung on the 30th, the brand experience center is a complex cultural space that combines 100 years of soju production history with brand storytelling. It has been drawing steady interest, mainly from tourists visiting Gangneung.
Annual visitor numbers increased from 7,300 in 2023 to about 18,000 each in 2024 and 2025. That means visitors more than doubled in the year after opening compared with the first year. In particular, about 80% of all visitors came from outside the Gangwon region. The assessment is that the facility has established itself as a local tourist course.
The center offers differentiated content by floor. The first-floor promotion hall introduces the origins and brand histories of major products such as "Cheoeum Cheoreom" and "Saero." The second-floor tour route uses graphics to explain the soju production process and also opens the actual manufacturing site to the public.
Immersive content is placed on the upper floors. The 10th-floor lounge provides interactive content themed on Daegwallyeong bedrock water, the key ingredient of "Cheoeum Cheoreom," through three-sided screens and a large 3D anamorphic video.
Starting May 6, Lotte Chilsung plans to newly offer a program to experience oak-aged aromas and select sub-ingredients to make "my own oak soju," as well as a DIY diffuser-making experience using the "Saero" bottle kit.
A Lotte Chilsung official said, "The brand experience center is being operated as a complex cultural space where visitors can enjoy brand history, philosophy, and experiential content beyond a simple tour venue," adding, "We plan to continue providing special experiences to more customers as a representative tourist attraction of the Gangneung area."