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| Tourists look at Korean cosmetics products at CJ Olive Young's flagship store in Seoul's central Jung District in this undated photo. Courtesy of CJ Olive Young |
By Lee Hae-rin
Korea's iconic shopping and tourism district, Myeong-dong, is flourishing again with the return of foreign travelers driven by their love for Korean culture, dramas and cosmetics.
Kai Diaz, a 26-year-old American, told The Korea Times, Monday, in Myeong-dong that she made a list of things she needed to do based on her favorite Korean drama and YouTube, Facebook and Tik Tok channels while counting down the days to her first trip to Korea during the pandemic.
Diaz, who introduced herself as a "huge K-drama fan," said her favorite Korean series triggered her interest in K-beauty and prompted her to look for skin-care products to take home on the last day of her five-day journey.
"There's not a lot of good ones back where I am from (Nevada). Even if there was, it's either too expensive or you have to order it online," she said, enthusiastically adding that she will return to Korea to explore more of its culture and visit areas beyond the capital, like Busan and Jeju.
On Monday, Myeong-dong was crowded with tourists shopping in groups of families and friends. Cosmetics and clothing stores that closed down during the coronavirus pandemic were open again and the streets were filled with international travelers carrying shopping bags and street foods, creating a sharp contrast to its pandemic-hit ghost town atmosphere a few months ago.
CJ Olive Young, Korea's largest drug store franchise that has over 1,300 branches nationwide, said, Sunday, that sales generated by tourists at five of its stores in Myeong-dong made a skyrocketing 29-fold jump during the month of March (from Mar. 1 to 17) compared to the same period last year.
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| Seoul's shopping district of Myeong-dong in central Seoul is filled with tourists, March 12, as the country lifted travel restrictions on visitors arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau the day before. Newsis |
Tourists account for a growing proportion of sales, the company's data shows. They account for 73 percent of sales at five stores in Myeong-dong this month, which is a more than six-fold increase from last year. The top nationalities that account for the sales growth were from Southeast Asia, Japan, the Americas and China, in order of percentage.
Apart from Diaz, several tourists interviewed this day also said their motivation to travel Korea and visit Myeong-dong was their love and interest in Korean culture, including Korean dramas, K-pop and YouTube content.
Apart from the growing international interest in Korean culture, the easing of travel regulations and lifting of PCR testing mandates on foreign arrivals caused an influx of international travelers and revitalized the shopping district, according to the company's analysis.
However, Chinese mainlanders, who accounted for the largest share of over one-third of visitors to Myeong-dong before the COVID-19 pandemic, have yet to come, according to the district's vendors and business owners.
"We (street vendors) feel that Chinese travelers haven't come back in earnest yet," Lee Kang-soo, the manager of the Myeong-dong vendors' union told The Korea Times, Monday. "You can occasionally hear the Chinese language spoken on the street, but they are mostly from Hong Kong, Singapore or Taiwan," Lee said.
Most Chinese travelers planning to visit Korea are still waiting for their tourist visas to be issued and Myeong-dong expects even more tourist traffic over time, Lee explained.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Police launched a six-week crackdown on unregistered accommodations and illegal filming on these facilities, starting Monday, to "prevent and regulate crimes targeting tourists."
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