Weak won, K-beauty fuel Chinese shopping trips, spending in Korea
When Chelsea Wang travelled to Seoul with two friends in late April, they barely visited any of the city's palaces or tourist attractions. Instead, their three-and-a-half-day itinerary revolved around duty-free shopping, beauty treatments, hair salons and cosmetics stores. Wang arrived with a shopping list of her own: a backpack she estimated would cost at least 500 yuan ($70) less than in China, and a bottle of perfume at a similar discount. One of her friends, Wu, a 28-year-old white-collar worker from China who was preparing for marriage, had an even bigger purchase planned. After comparing prices, she bought a Chaumet wedding ring at Lotte Duty Free in Seoul's Myeong-dong neighborhood for about 37,000 yuan after discounts, tax refunds and favourable exchange rates were figured in — roughly 11,000 yuan less than she would have paid in China. "It was really quite a good deal," Wu said. Their purchases came as the Korean won has remained weak against major currencies over the past year. One yuan was worth an average of about 226 won in June, compared with around 209 won in January, acc
