'COVID-19 Shock' SM Myeonsejeom to Close Downtown Seoul Duty-Free Store

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Hana Tour announced on the 25th through a public disclosure that its subsidiary, SM Duty Free, will cease operations at its Seoul branch and return the related duty-free business rights.

The closing date is the end of September, and the suspension of operations at the Seoul branch amounts to 20.1 billion KRW. This corresponds to 2.4% of Hana Tour's total consolidated sales.

The background is the worsening business conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company plans to improve its profit and loss structure by reorganizing unprofitable businesses.

A Hana Tour official explained, "We plan to focus our capabilities on operating stores within Incheon Airport to strengthen profitability," adding, "Although a cumulative sales decrease is inevitable, we expect improvements in profitability and financial structure."

An SM Duty Free official stated, "The duty-free business has become so difficult that it has gone beyond a 'serious' level, and since the parent company is also heavily affected by the COVID-19 impact, this decision was made through today's board resolution," adding, "We plan to operate only two duty-free stores within Incheon International Airport."

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