SOUTH KOREA. Duty-free sales nationwide (excluding inflight retail) fell -11.9% year-on-year in 2025 to KRW12,534,040,790,592 (US$8.6 billion) despite a +3.6% rise in customer numbers to 29,477,804, according to newly released Korea Duty Free Association figures.
That is the lowest annual total since 2016 (see table) and a fall of almost -50% from the pre-pandemic 2019 level of KRW24,858,617,876,356 (US$17.04 billion).
Foreigners accounted for almost 75% of the total (see table below) on just over 37% of customer numbers.
Analysing the results, a senior Korean duty-free executive told The Moodie Davitt Report: “Downtown and airport sales increased in December vs. November while the number of customers increased downtown but decreased on-airport.
“This suggests Korean duty-free did more daigou and SG [i.e. small guests = conducted tourists who buy on behalf of wholesalers/travel agencies] in December.
“December 2025 is down year-on-year, which shows that the overall market is stagnating.”
We will bring you further analysis of the results next week. ✈
