Tiffany, 50, who lives in Hong Kong, visited Korea with her family for the Lunar New Year holiday, a traditional Chinese holiday. His nine-day itinerary for his trip to Korea included not only Seoul, such as Gyeongbokgung Palace and Myeong-dong, but also various tourist destinations such as Gapyeong and Chuncheon. “This is my second visit to Korea,” Tiffany said. “I’m most looking forward to visiting Gyeongbok Palace.”
Chinese tourists are flocking to Korea to mark the biggest holiday in China, ‘Chunje.’ As this year’s Spring Festival holiday continues for nine days, the longest ever, the distribution industry and others are struggling to capture the hearts of Chinese tourists.
According to the government and others on the 19th, up to 190,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit Korea during the Spring Festival (15th to 23rd) this year. This is a 44% increase from the average daily visitors during the Spring Festival last year. This atmosphere was easily seen in major commercial districts in Seoul, which are frequently visited by Chinese tourists such as Myeong-dong and Seongsu. Banners were hung in front of the store to attract Chinese tourists and active promotions continued, such as the establishment of stands. The influence of Korean contents was also seen throughout Myeongdong Street. The figure of Netflix’s “K-pop Demon Hunters” character was installed as a photo zone and became popular. Family tourists accompanied by children were also seen taking commemorative photos against the backdrop.
Not only Korean contents but also Korean cosmetics and food were popular. Zhang Zien, a 26-year-old Chinese man who met her in Myeong-dong, looked satisfied with her Korean cosmetics with her friends. Jang said, “My friend liked TWICE, so we visited the store together and bought an album.” Koo, 42, who visited Myeong-dong with his family, expressed his affection for Korean food. Koo said, “I like soybean paste stew very much.”
On the 18th, Seongsu-dong, Seoul, was also crowded with tourists. A flagship store, whose five-story building is all composed of beauty products, was filled with foreign tourists looking for Korean cosmetics. “I bought a carrot toner pad, acne patch, and makeup fixer,” said Kai (25), a Chinese man I met at the store. “I came here because I heard that Korea is famous for cosmetics, but it was good to see many things.”
Kim Ji-won (27), who works at a large clothing store on Myeong-dong Street, said, “It was around 3,000 this time last year, but about 6,300 people came on the day of the Lunar New Year holiday, and the number of customers doubled.” He then said, “There were about 4,000 visitors a day two weeks ago, but since last week, 6,000 people have come.” A hotel official in Myeong-dong said, “There are no rooms available until the 23rd,” adding, “Half of the guests are Chinese tourists.”
In fact, the domestic retail industry smiled broadly during the Lunar New Year holiday and the Lunar New Year’s Day, China’s biggest holiday. Lotte Department Store announced that the number of foreign customers who visited the department store from the 14th to the 18th increased 100% compared to the previous year’s Lunar New Year holiday. If it is limited to customers in China, its height will be expanded to 240%. The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, which has become famous as a pop-up store and is frequently visited by foreign customers, also said that foreign sales rose 88% during this period compared to the Lunar New Year holiday of the previous year. Foreign sales at Shinsegae Department Store’s headquarters, Gangnam branch, and Centum City branch soared 276% this year compared to last year.
Large discount stores have also benefited. As a result of analyzing the performance of Lotte Mart’s Jetaplex Seoul Station branch during this year’s holiday season, foreign sales rose 26% and the number of visitors rose 17% compared to the Chuseok period last year.
Convenience store GS25’s foreign sales during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday increased 99.5% compared to the same period last year.
[Reporter Yang Seho / Reporter Park Yoon Kyun]
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