In early May, when the holidays in Korea, China, and Japan coincided, the domestic duty-free industry enjoyed “foreign specials” for the first time in a long time.

According to the industry on the 6th, major duty-free shops recorded more than double-digit sales growth thanks to an increase in foreign visitors during the holiday period from the 1st to the 5th. This is due to the concentration of demand for visiting Korea due to the overlapping Golden Week in Japan and the Labor Day holiday in China.

Lotte Duty Free saw its total sales increase by more than 40% year-on-year during the period. In particular, the increase in foreign sales far exceeded that of Koreans. Sales of individual Chinese tourists more than doubled.

Shinsegae Duty Free also saw sales of individual foreign tourists increase by more than 20%. It is explained that the large-scale discount promotion held at Myeong-dong branch and online mall was effective. Sales in the beauty category grew 160% and the average daily sales of foreigners of the brands targeted for the event increased eightfold.

Hyundai Duty Free also joined the recovery trend, with foreign sales increasing 77.1% during the same period. It seems that the consumption structure centered on individual tourists has been established throughout the industry.

Recently, foreign tourists have been in demand for shopping, focusing on K-fashion, K-beauty experiences, and content consumption, an industry official said. “It seems that the strategy that reflects the tastes and consumption patterns of individual tourists has led to the purchase, away from the structure of relying on group tourists.”