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| Foreign tourists walk through central Seoul's Myeong-dong market, Aug. 10. Yonhap |
By Kim Jae-heun
The government's lifting of quarantine measures on foreign visitors to Korea is helping local department stores see a sales recovery.
Since Sept. 3, all inbound tourists have been exempted from taking COVID-19 tests before entering Korea. This led the number of visitors here to skyrocket from 80,000 early this year to 260,000 in July and 400,000 this month, the Korea Tourism Organization said.
Hyundai Department Store said sales generated by tourists between July and August jumped 198 percent year-on-year.
"After COVID-19 hit the country, sales generated by tourists decreased 70 percent year-on-year in 2020. However, as the world has shown signs of recovering from the pandemic since the beginning of this year, business has been recovering," a Hyundai Department Store official said.
In the first quarter of this year, Hyundai Department Store's sales coming from tourists increased 90 percent year-on-year, followed by 129 percent in the second half.
Foreigners mainly purchased cosmetics and fashion items at the store, and their sales in each of these categories increased 218 percent and 233 percent, respectively, in July.
Hyundai Department Store also collaborated with local entertainment firm HYBE to host a K-pop-related event at its Yeouido branch. It successfully attracted international fans who waited in line for five hours for the event.
"We expect more tourists to come visit our stores with prerequisite COVID-19 test requirements waived upon entry into the country from this month. We will continue offering various promotional events for them," the official said.
Lotte Department Store also took steps at its main store in Myeong-dong, a mega shopping district in the country, to prepare for an increasing number of international shoppers.
"We cannot disclose our recent sales coming from foreign visitors, but our sales at certain branches in the country have already grown by double to triple," a Lotte Department Store official said.
