Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Korea to become shopping heaven in Dec.-Feb.
.jpg?w=728)
Foreign tourists look at a booklet on shopping tips in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, during the Korea Grand Sale 2014.
By Kim Rahn
By Kim Rahn
Tourists visiting Korea between December and February will have a chance to find unprecedented discounts for shopping, lodging and entertainment in a massive sale promotion.
The Korea Grand Sale 2015 will take place for 84 days from Dec. 1 to Feb. 22, according to the promotion organizer, the Visit Korea Committee, and sponsor, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The promotion aims to raise Korea’s competitiveness as a shopping destination and attract travelers, offering them deals on not only shopping but also various sectors such as food, lodging and cultural shows.
Some 28,000 outlets from 135 companies, including department stores, duty free shops, hotels, discount stores, shopping malls and entertainment firms, will take part in the promotion, providing diverse discounts and events to foreign visitors.
“We used to have the Korea Grand Sale in January and February every year since 2011. But we are extending it to include December, which the government designated as ‘Visit Korea Weeks,’ for a synergy effect,” a committee official said.
Han Kyeong-ah, right, secretariat of the Visit Korea Committee, poses with Hiromi Tagawa, center, chairman of the Japanese Shopping Tourism Organization, and Kenichi Niitsu, senior managing director of the organization, after signing an agreement for joint promotions at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo on Oct. 16.
“Visitors will be able to experience the yearend, festive atmosphere,” she said.
During the event period, the committee will designate two weeks each for different themes as must-see (Jan. 9-23), must-do (Jan. 24-Feb. 7) and must-buy (Feb. 8-22).
In the must-see period, visitors can have “buy one, get one free” benefits for non-verbal performances. During the must-do period, entertainment companies such as theme parks will offer more than 50-percent discounts and other events.
During the final, must-buy period, which will include the Lunar New Year holiday, the committee plans to provide giveaways depending on the amount of money visitors spend on shopping.
“In cooperation with municipalities, we’ll also offer information on local festivals and traditional markets to foreign tourists,” the official said.
Online, offline events
The committee will also hold various online and offline events before, during and after the promotion period.
Before it formally opened the official website of the Korea Grand Sale (
) on Monday, the committee conducted a question-and-answer event about travel tips that tourists to Korea need most.
Since the opening, it is holding a Luxury Shopping Pass event through Dec. 31, in which various gifts, such as round-trip flight tickets to Korea, hotel vouchers and duty free shop vouchers, will be given to 100 selected visitors who create their own online shopping coupon lists on the website.
An event booth will be set up in Myeong-dong and Dongdaemun from Dec. 1 to Jan. 7 and from Jan. 10 to Feb. 22, respectively, with an event called 888. Visitors who download eight coupons from the Korea Grand Sale website and post a photo of themselves taken at the booth on their social network services will have a chance to win various giveaways including round-trip flight tickets.
Along with the booth, the committee will run a Tourism Service Center where visitors can have free wi-fi and cell phone charging services.
On the opening day of the promotion on Dec. 1, a welcome event with giveaways will be held at six airports across the country _ Gimpo, Incheon, Yangyang, Cheongju, Gimhae and Jeju.
Committee Secretariat Han Kyung-ah said, “The Korea Grand Sale 2015 will be a chance to experience not only shopping but also Korea’s various features and cultures, including food, hallyu and performances.”
Joint promotion with Japan
In October, the committee signed an agreement with the Japan Shopping Tourism Organization for a joint promotion between the two nations. The organization will host the Japan Shopping Festival from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28.
The two sides agreed to share information about each other’s events held in similar periods and publicize each other’s events through airlines, hotels and tourism associations of the respective countries, in an effort to create a synergy effect.
Ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics here and 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan, they also decided to promote Korea and Japan as one shopping destination when having overseas marketing in regions other than Asia, such as Europe and the Americas.
To commemorate the collaboration, the committee will give specially designed shopping bags to Japanese visitors to the Korea Grand Sale.
“While the number of Japanese travelers to Korea is decreasing, the cooperation for shopping between private sectors is expected to boost tourism in both countries and help develop the Korea-Japan relationship,” Han said.