Traveling to Korea at half price
Misaki Futamata, left, and Mana Amano walk in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, on Aug. 30. They visited Korea to shop during the Korea Grand Sale, which offers attractive discounts to foreign tourists through Oct. 31. Courtesy of Visit Korea CommitteeKorea Grand Sale: Shop, dine, travel with deep discountsBy Chung Ah-youngMisaki Futamata, 21, has frequently visited Korea to attend K-pop shows and meet “hallyu” stars. But this time, she, along with her friend Mana Amano, 20, came here mainly to shop during the Korea Grand Sale, which offers unprecedented discounts for foreign tourists.The annual sale event, which began on Aug. 14 earlier than scheduled and will be held through Oct. 31, was organized by the Visit Korea Committee to boost the nation’s tourism industry, which was recently hit by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak.Some 32,000 retail outlets owned by 320 companies, including department stores, duty-free shops, airlines, hotels, performance venues, transportation and theme parks have joined the sale event.Ibis Ambassador Hotel in Myeong-
Sep 3, 2015