Duty-free sales by foreigners drop for first time

The amount of money foreigners spent on buying duty-free products in Korea declined for the first time, a group of domestic duty-free operators disclosed Thursday. 

According to the Korea Duty Free Association, the gross sales of domestic duty-free business marked $8.1 billion last year, up 3.03 percent from 2014. The number of foreign duty-free shoppers also rose from 15.7 million to 16 million during the same time.

However, the portion of sales generated by foreigners slid to $5.41 billion from the previous $5.45 billion. This is the first time such sales by foreigners dropped since 2010, when the association started the research.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome that swept the country from May through August is seen to have led to the sales fall, insiders said. Many foreigners canceled their trips to Korea during the period out of health concerns.

“Still, thanks to the growing number of domestic shoppers, the stores managed to see sales growth,” an association spokesperson was quoted as saying to Yonhap.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)