Endemic Rebound Hotel Shilla, Lee Boo-jin Steps Up Behind the Scenes Support

Attended the Signboard Ceremony of Masjeju Branch No. 25 in Jeju Region
Serving as Chairman of the Korea Visit Year Committee and Presenting the K-Tourism Blueprint

Lee Boo-jin, CEO of Hotel Shilla, has been actively engaging in activities that prioritize the greater cause of revitalizing Korean tourism this year. It is analyzed that this is a behind-the-scenes support effort to enable Hotel Shilla’s duty-free and hotel sectors to make a leap forward with the full-scale onset of the endemic (periodic outbreak of infectious diseases).

(From left) Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla; Lee Yoon-ji, restaurant owner of the 25th branch of Matitneun Jeju Mandulgi; and Oh Young-hoon, Governor of Jeju Province, are attending the reopening plaque ceremony of 'Dongmun Kalguksu,' the 25th branch of Matitneun Jeju Mandulgi on Dongmun-ro, Jeju City, on the 3rd, and posing for a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Hotel Shilla].

According to the hotel industry on the 4th, Lee attended the reopening plaque ceremony of ‘Dongmun Kalguksu,’ the 25th branch of the representative social contribution project in Jeju, ‘Making Delicious Jeju,’ the day before. It was the first time in seven years that Lee personally participated in a store opening event. It is analyzed that she visited to support Jeju tourism, which is entering a new phase with the full-scale endemic, as this project marks its 10th anniversary this year.

‘Making Delicious Jeju’ is a project that provides customized consulting by Hotel Shilla employees to small-scale self-employed restaurant owners in Jeju who operate without separate chefs. On that day, Lee toured the restaurant, which had completely revamped its menu recipes, customer service, kitchen equipment, and interior, and had a conversation with the restaurant owner. Lee is known to have a keen interest in and personally oversee ‘Making Delicious Jeju,’ one of Hotel Shilla’s core social contribution activities.

Earlier in February, Lee was appointed as the new chairperson of the Korea Visit Year Committee. At a public-private strategic meeting held last month to explore ways to revitalize the K-tourism industry, she presented a blueprint to make K-tourism the ‘first mover’ driving South Korea’s economic growth by uniting the tourism sectors such as aviation, shopping, food, and accommodation and leveraging their capabilities and networks as the driving force for K-tourism activation.

Lee’s active external engagements, which are usually rare, are analyzed to be aimed at supporting the revival of domestic tourism so that Hotel Shilla, having passed through the COVID-19 tunnel, can make a full-fledged leap forward this year. The duty-free (TR) sector of Hotel Shilla is focusing on the successful opening and operation of the Incheon International Airport duty-free store in July, while the hotel & leisure sector is at a turning point where it must overcome the base effect this year caused by the explosive demand in Jeju during the COVID-19 period and work hard to attract domestic and international tourists. Jeju Shilla Hotel, located in Jeju where domestic travel demand was concentrated during the COVID-19 period, saw its sales in the first quarter of this year decrease by 24% compared to the same period last year due to the base effect.

Nevertheless, the first step this year is generally evaluated as well taken. Hotel Shilla’s consolidated operating profit for the first quarter of this year was 34.5 billion KRW, an increase of 128.0% compared to the same period last year. During the same period, sales were 752.1 billion KRW, down 31.3%. It is analyzed that the rapid stabilization of commission fees led to noticeable performance improvements in the duty-free sector. Since the beginning of this year, the company has been reducing commission fees to improve profitability and increasing direct transactions with Chinese traders (ttaigong), which is expected to continue having a positive impact on performance. The hotel & leisure sector is also showing a positive atmosphere, with the occupancy rate of Seoul Shilla Hotel recovering to 64% in the first quarter of this year.

An industry insider said, "Both duty-free and hotels face the challenge of leading the tourism trends that have greatly changed after COVID-19 this year," adding, "Hotel Shilla will spend the year focusing on laying the foundation for endemic management environments, led by CEO Lee’s behind-the-scenes support."

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