Hana Tour Exits Duty-Free and Hotel Businesses... "Solidifying No.1 Position in Core Travel Business" (Comprehensive)

CEO Song Miseon’s Aspirations at 30th Anniversary Meeting

"Expand Market Share to 35% Within 3 Years"
Increase All Investments in Inbound and Outbound
Strengthen Individual Travel Markets like Airtel and Tourtel
Expand Digital Services

Comprehensive travel company Hana Tour will celebrate its 30th anniversary on the 1st of next month. Song Miseon, CEO of Hana Tour, expressed her ambition to leverage the momentum of turning a profit this year after the dark period of COVID-19, aiming to expand the market share to 35% within the next three years by 2026 and solidify its position as the 'number one travel agency.' Following efforts to improve its business structure by streamlining ancillary businesses such as duty-free shops and hotels, the company plans to focus on its core travel business and increase related investments to achieve results.

Song Miseon, CEO of Hana Tour, is presenting future plans at the 30th anniversary press conference.
[Photo by Hana Tour]

At a press conference held on the 25th at the JW Marriott Hotel in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, to commemorate the company's 30th anniversary, CEO Song said, "We plan to continuously strengthen areas related to our core travel business," adding, "We currently operate nine visa centers within our global network, and if there are new bids, we will proceed with additional centers. We will also steadily invest in expanding overseas subsidiaries and securing exclusive contracts with local companies, covering all inbound and outbound travel-related investments."

Since Song took office in 2020, Hana Tour has sought management efficiency by divesting underperforming businesses such as SM Duty-Free and Mark Hotel. CEO Song explained, "The idea that duty-free shops or hotels can create synergy with travel is somewhat of an illusion. Naturally, as the company has continued its history for 30 years, expansion is considered, but we questioned whether we could manage duty-free shops as well as Lotte or Hotel Shilla, or compete with operators owning hundreds of hotels."

She further stated, "Ultimately, we judged that it is important to pursue expansion based on what we have built over 30 years through travel," emphasizing, "If it helps our expansion strategy, we will collaborate with foreign companies or startups and actively expand our infrastructure."

The specific goal presented by CEO Song and Hana Tour is overwhelming dominance through market share expansion. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, Hana Tour led the travel industry with a market share of around 20%. As the overseas travel market, which had been stagnant after the endemic transition, returns to normal, Hana Tour plans to strengthen not only its existing strength in package tours but also the FIT (Free Independent Traveler) market, which accounts for about 70% of the total travel market with 20 million individual travelers, thereby solidifying its position as the 'number one travel agency.'

Specifically, Hana Tour plans to expand options for those who prefer individual travel by offering combined products such as 'Airtel (Airfare + Hotel)' and 'Tourel (Tour + Accommodation),' which bundle elements of package tours like flights, hotels, transportation, and local tours. CEO Song expressed confidence, saying, "Utilizing Hana Tour's core assets?domestic and international networks?to provide individual travelers with hotels, flights, and admission tickets at competitive prices is a strength that other companies cannot match."

The company also plans to strengthen 'Hana Pack 2.0,' introduced during the COVID-19 period. Hana Pack 2.0 is a package tour product designed to allow consumers to focus on the essence of travel by excluding group shopping and guide/driver expenses according to the product grade, offering optional tours at reasonable prices, and including local hotspots and popular restaurants in the itinerary. According to Hana Tour, Hana Pack 2.0 accounts for 65% of sales revenue and is popular enough that 5 out of 10 users choose it. To achieve the goal of a 35% market share within three years, Hana Tour plans to launch more advanced products such as 'Hana Pack 2.5' and 'Hana Pack 3.0.'

With the goal of expanding digital services, the Hana Tour application (app), launched around the same time, will accelerate digital transformation to reach 1 million monthly active users (MAU). Currently, it is close to surpassing 700,000 MAU. To increase users, the company is enhancing functional convenience through voice search and AI-powered chatbot upgrades and preparing differentiated services such as customer consultations. Hana Tour plans to develop its own AI-generated search model to provide conversational search functions. Starting next year, the company will resume offline travel fairs, which were suspended due to COVID-19, and expand them online as well. The travel fair, pioneered by Hana Tour as the first in the domestic travel industry, attracted over 100,000 visitors annually.

CEO Song emphasized, "The condition of being the number one travel company is to be first, different, or overwhelming," adding, "If we continuously challenge the title of being the industry's first and approach with uniqueness by creating new standards that meet changing customer needs, the goal of expanding market share will become an achievable number."

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