Skyways Opening Up, Card Industry Actively Launches Overseas Travel-Focused Marketing

Mileage Event and New Product·Service Launch

On the 1st, officials are dismantling COVID-19 quarantine-related facilities at the arrival hall of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport. Incheon International Airport Corporation has reverted the operation system of the arrival hall at Incheon Airport to the "pre-COVID" level in accordance with the government's revised quarantine guidelines, which include easing the use of quarantine transportation networks for overseas arriving travelers. Facilities such as local government quarantine information booths, dedicated waiting and separation areas for overseas arriving travelers, and COVID-19 information signage have been removed. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] As countries around the world begin to gradually lift restrictions on overseas tourists that were imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the card industry is actively launching related marketing campaigns, products, and services.

According to the card industry on the 6th, recently, card companies have been intensifying specialized marketing and launching products and services targeting overseas travel. Samsung Card has renewed the design of its flagship mileage credit card, the ‘Samsung & Mileage Platinum Card,’ and is currently running an event this month where customers who spend over 200,000 KRW using this card will receive 7,000 Skypass miles.

KB Kookmin Card is also conducting discount events in the airline and travel sectors. Until the end of this month, customers who purchase discounted international flight tickets through Hana and Interpark Tour can receive up to a 10% discount, and some online shopping malls offer up to a 15% discount on overseas travel products. Additionally, at Lotte Internet Duty Free, customers who spend over 250 USD receive immediate-use reward points based on their spending amount.

New products and services are also emerging. Hyundai Card launched the industry’s first ‘Mileage Emergency Recharge Service,’ which allows users to pre-charge the required mileage and then repay it using mileage accumulated through the co-branded credit card (PLCC) with Korean Air. Lotte Card also introduced the ‘Amex Platinum Asiana Club Lotte Card’ earlier last month, which offers up to 3 miles per 1,000 KRW spent.

For card companies, overseas card sales are generally considered a more profitable area compared to domestic credit sales. Furthermore, as profitability has declined domestically due to merchant fee rate regulations, overseas transactions have become relatively more attractive.

However, overseas card usage was severely impacted by COVID-19. According to the Bank of Korea’s announcement last month, the overseas card usage amount (credit, check, and debit cards) by residents last year was 12.227 billion USD, which is only at the 2014 level (12.01 billion USD). This is significantly lower than the pre-COVID-19 level in 2019 (19.123 billion USD).

Nonetheless, the number of outbound tourists has been increasing recently. According to a survey by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, the number of outbound tourists in January and February rose by 68.5% year-on-year to 260,156. This is a result of countries lifting restrictions on overseas travelers. The government is also reopening air routes. The aviation authorities plan to expand international flights from regional airports starting next month, increase weekly international flight operations by 100 flights each month, and further increase the number to 300 flights per month starting in July.

The card industry is showing growing optimism. A card industry official said, "Last year, marketing related to the easing of COVID-19 was active, but the Omicron variant prevented significant gains," adding, "Although the absolute figures are still incomparable to pre-COVID-19 levels, sales in the airline and travel sectors have been gradually rebounding recently."

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