50,000 Chinese Tourists... Enjoy Shopping at Lotte, Shinsegae, and HDC Shilla

'Largest Ever' Since China's THAAD Retaliation
Four Major Duty-Free Stores Visited Over Two Days on 10th-11th
3,000 Chinese Cosmetics Company Group Tour Last Month
Rising Expectations for Hanhanryeong Lift

On the 7th, with winter rain falling, Chinese peddlers (Daigou) and foreign tourists are waiting to enter in front of a duty-free shop in Jung-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Chinese tourists, who had stopped visiting following China's retaliation measures against THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), are returning. The largest group of Chinese tourists since the THAAD incident, numbering around 5,000, will visit major domestic duty-free shops such as Lotte, Shinsegae, and HDC Shilla.

According to related industries and the Korea Tourism Organization on the 8th, about 5,000 employees of 'Yiyongtang,' a health food and supplement manufacturing company based in Shenyang, China, will visit Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong Main Store and World Tower Store, Shinsegae Duty Free Myeongdong Store, and HDC Shilla Duty Free (Yongsan) over two days from the 10th to 11th for incentive tourism purposes.

This duty-free visit schedule is part of Yiyongtang's 5-night, 6-day incentive tourism itinerary. Incentive tourism is a reward trip where the company covers all or part of the expenses to reward and motivate employees for their performance. The scale of about 5,000 people is the largest single visitor group since 2017.

Group tours by Chinese tourists, which had stopped due to the deterioration of Korea-China relations over the THAAD issue, are gradually recovering through incentive tourism. Last month, about 3,000 employees of Shanghai Weina Cosmetics, a famous Chinese cosmetics manufacturing and sales company, also visited Korea for incentive tourism and enjoyed duty-free shopping.

This trend can also be confirmed by indicators. As of the end of November last year, the number of Chinese incentive tourists increased by about 200% compared to the same period the previous year, reaching 99,857. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Korea also increased by 26% year-on-year to about 6 million last year.

Especially, with expectations rising for Chinese President Xi Jinping's possible visit to Korea in March, there is growing anticipation for a thawing mood in Korea-China relations. However, the Blue House remains cautious, stating that President Xi's visit schedule has not been finalized. Blue House spokesperson Ko Min-jung said, "Nothing has been decided yet, and President Xi's visit is under consultation between Korea and China."

The duty-free industry, which recorded record-breaking sales of about 22.6 trillion won as of November last year, also has high expectations for the resumption of incentive tourism. Since the imposition of the ban on Korean products (Hallyu ban) as a retaliation measure related to THAAD, dependence on Chinese daigou (personal shoppers) has increased. Daigou require high sales commissions (rebates), which means that while they boost sales, they also cause profitability to deteriorate, showing a dual effect.

A duty-free shop industry official said, "Corporate group tourists shop for a variety of items, unlike daigou who mainly purchase single items like cosmetics, so from the duty-free shop's perspective, they can expect a positive effect on sales," adding, "It is difficult to conclude that a full-fledged thaw in Korea-China relations has been established, but we are watching with anticipation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.