"Envious of Korean Daily Life"...Foreign Tourists Line Up in Central Myeongdong from Early Morning [Reportage]

2026 Lotte Town Myeongdong Festival On-Site
Lotte Leads with 'K-Dailycation'
Evolving Beyond Retail Space into a Platform

"Is this the line for on-site reservations?"

Shortly after 9 a.m. on May 15, a crowd of nearly 200 people had already formed a long queue in front of Exit 7 at Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station in Jung-gu, Seoul. With more than an hour remaining before the event was set to begin, the atmosphere already felt festive. Mandarin, Japanese, and English mixed in the air, and foreign tourists pulling suitcases as well as family groups were easy to spot.

A long queue for on-site reservations formed as early as around 9 a.m., well before the event start time of 10:30 a.m. Photo by Jaehee Kwon

On this day, Lotte Department Store kicked off the '2026 Lotte Town Myeongdong Festival.' The main content of this year's event is the 'K Escape Room Game.' Advance reservations were sold out within just five minutes of opening. As people flocked to wait for on-site reservations, a long line had already formed even before the event began.

The event space utilized the site of a former Uniqlo store. Upon entering, the first thing that stood out was the escape room area designed with a 'Korean herbal medicine store sauna' concept. Under dim lighting, wooden lockers, herbal medicine cabinets, and bathhouse props created an atmosphere reminiscent of an authentic jjimjilbang or Korean bathhouse.

Participants complete missions in each room to move on to the next area. In the Sulwhasoo space, the mission is to fill the bath with water; in the Emis space, participants solve locker combination puzzles. In the mobile game-themed 'Luck Masters' area, participants work to decipher codes to find a missing hero.

As soon as you exit through Exit 7 of Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station on Line 2, large balloons and structures are arranged to clearly indicate the event space. Photo by Kwon Jaehee

Notably, what stood out more than the 'games' themselves was the overall event flow. The event space was naturally connected in the direction of the Lotte Department Store Main Branch and the duty-free store. After passing through the event area, booths from Lotte Home Shopping, Lotte Chilsung Beverage, Lotte Duty Free, and Lotte Hotel lined the way, leading directly to Exit 8 of Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station. Descending underground once more leads to the department store space connected to the station.

As a result, visitors experiencing the escape room game naturally drifted toward the department store, duty-free shop, and hotel. The strategy seemed to be to tie not just the department store, but the entire Myeongdong area together as one immersive platform.

In fact, Lotte Department Store set 'K-Dailycation' as the core keyword of this event. Na Yoobin, head of planning and operations for Lotte Department Store's Retail Entertainment Team, explained, "We reflected the demand of foreign tourists who want to consume the everyday lifestyle of Koreans as tourism content."

A pop-up space for Sulwhasoo, a cosmetic brand designed with a Korean bathhouse concept. Participants carry out a mission here to fill the bath with water. Photo by Kwon Jaehee.

This was done by reimagining aspects of everyday Korean culture familiar to locals—such as jjimjilbangs, saunas, and herbal medicine cafés in Euljiro—as hands-on experiences for foreigners. The pop-up of the well-known Euljiro café 'Coffee Hanyakbang' inside the event venue was part of the same strategy.

This approach was also reflected in the selection of participating brands. Sulwhasoo created a bathhouse space connected to Korean bathing culture, while Emis designed a locker room space with the sensibility of a Korean fashion brand. Rather than gathering only globally well-known brands, the event put brands with a distinctly 'Korean image' at the forefront.

Lotte aims to develop the department store as a 'distribution platform' that connects a variety of brands and content. In fact, foreign customer sales at the Lotte Department Store Main Branch rose by about 40% last year, and the 'Kinetic Ground' K-fashion section also saw significant inflow of global Millennials & Gen Z customers.

The origins of the Lotte Town Myeongdong Festival go back to 2023, when it was launched as a joint project between the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Lotte to revitalize the Myeongdong commercial district in the post-pandemic era. In both 2023 and 2024, the focus was on boosting the Myeongdong area. From 2025 onward, Lotte continued the event independently, hosting it in Seongsu in a rare move. By last year, the cumulative number of visitors had reached one million.

Escape room space at the '2026 Lotte Town Myeongdong Festival,' designed with a 'K-Dailycation' concept featuring a Korean herbal medicine store and sauna. Photo by Kwon Jaehee

Recently, department stores have been transforming into 'content platforms that encourage visitors to stay.' Their role is shifting from just shopping to providing spaces for play, experience, and sharing. Yoko (31), a Japanese tourist encountered at the event, said, "This is my third trip to Korea, and while I used to only shop, this is my first time attending such an experiential event. Before visiting, I saw a lot of videos about 'Korean jjimjilbang culture' on social media, and it was even more fun to see it combined with an escape room."

As lunchtime approached, the crowd grew even larger, with nearby office workers stopping by, creating a lively atmosphere. Mr. Han, an office worker in his 30s, remarked, "Myeongdong used to feel a bit lifeless, but recently I can really sense that the crowds are coming back. In the past, most visitors were Chinese or Japanese tourists, but now I see people from all kinds of countries."

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