COVID-19 Causes Sharp Decline in Duty-Free Shoppers... Lotte and Shilla Implement Reduced Hours and Temporary Closures at Some Locations

Lotte Duty Free temporarily suspended operations at the international terminal duty-free store of Gimpo International Airport on the 12th. This decision was made due to the sharp decline in flights and passengers at Gimpo Airport caused by the global spread of COVID-19. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Duty-free shops, hit hard by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), are consecutively reducing their operating hours and closing temporarily.

Lotte Duty Free announced on the 3rd that its COEX and Busan branches will be closed one day a week, every Monday, throughout April. The Jeju branch will be closed on weekends and public holidays starting from the 11th. Lotte Duty Free had already decided to temporarily close its Gimhae Airport and Gimpo Airport branches since last month.

A Lotte Duty Free official explained, "This decision was made due to the sharp decline in customers caused by COVID-19."

Shilla I'Park Duty Free Yongsan branch also decided to suspend operations temporarily from the 4th to the 20th. Since the 1st, the customer center's operating hours have been shortened to weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it is no longer open on weekends.

Shilla I'Park Duty Free stated, "To overcome COVID-19, we have decided to temporarily suspend operations to actively participate in 'social distancing.' We plan to resume operations after thorough disinfection."

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