Klook opens Seoul Station pickup center for Jindo specialty foods
Klook and Jindo County's stand in Seoul Station / Courtesy of Klook
Global booking platform Klook has opened a dedicated pickup center at Seoul Station, allowing tourists to collect specialty foods from Jindo County, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, just before heading to the airport.
The center, named the Global Digital K-Food Hub, opened Monday in the second basement of Seoul Station’s Airport Railroad (AREX) section. Jindo County Governor Lee Jai-kag, AREX President Park Dae-soo and James Lee, general manager of Klook Korea, attended the opening ceremony.
Klook is selling six products from Jindo Eats, a local food brand made with agricultural and seafood products from Jindo, an island county off the country’s southwestern tip. The products are "ganjang gejang," or raw crab marinated in soy sauce; soy-marinated abalone; rice; a perilla and sesame oil set; "flower-blooming" seaweed; and "gopchang gim," a variety of dried laver. More products will be added later.
Tourists can book and pay for the products on Klook, then pick them up vacuum-packed at Seoul Station, just outside the AREX line to Incheon International Airport. This way, travelers don’t have to carry the food around during their trip.
To mark the launch, Klook is selling 100 packs of soy-marinated crab to international customers for $1 each, with a limit of two per person.
The project is part of a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport program that supports public-private partnerships for regional development. It is based on an agreement Klook and Jindo County signed last December.
Klook said international travelers are now showing interest in areas far beyond Seoul. Its traffic for destinations in and around Gangneung, Gangwon Province, rose 387 percent from January to August compared with the same period last year. Traffic for Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, jumped 163.8 percent and for Geoje Island in South Gyerongsang Province by 130 percent. Seogwipo on Jeju Island rose 85 percent, while Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province increased by 76 percent and Busan 44 percent.
“As the interest of international visitors is spreading beyond Seoul and a few popular destinations to diverse regions across the country, it is important to create an environment where they can more easily discover and experience the charms of each region,” James Lee said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.