JAPAN. Lotte Duty Free, together with Lotte Hotel, has this week organised road shows in Tokyo and Osaka to promote South Korea as a tourist destination and attract Japanese travellers.
On 30 May, the Korean duty free retailer invited over 100 people from the Japanese tourism industry to the road show held at the Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo. Attendees included Korea Tourism Organization (Tokyo branch) Head Kim Kwan-mi and Korean Cultural Center in Japan Director Gong Hyeong-shik.
To help publicise Korea’s tourism infrastructure, key Lotte Hotel executives and staff members were in attendance, including Lotte Hotels Group HQ General Manager Lee Wan-shin and Lotte Duty Free CEO Kim Ju-nam.
Today (1 June) Lotte Duty Free hosted a road show in Osaka with invites again extended to around 100 people from the local tourism industry. 
The road show was similar to a tourism fair for travel agencies, online travel agencies (OTAs) and portal officials. Since 2012, Lotte Duty Free has held road shows in China, Japan, Russia and various locations in Southeast Asia. The programme has resumed six years since it was jointly hosted in Japan by Lotte Duty Free, Lotte Hotel, Lotte Corporation and Lotte World’s four affiliates.
Lotte Duty Free highlighted its downtown duty free stores located in tourist city hubs such as the Busan and Jeju stores, as well as its largest stores in Korea: the Myeongdong and World Tower stores in seoul. Korea’s famous tourism resources were introduced together with the infrastructure of affiliates such as Lotte Hotel and Lotte World, and relevant packages were promoted.
In line with the resumption of global travel, Lotte Duty Free also attended the Hanoi International Fair in Vietnam and the Seoul Tourism Information Session in Thailand in April. The road shows in Tokyo and Osaka continue this outreach, aiming to attract Japanese customers to the Korean duty free sector.
Kim said, “We are exploring various ways to restore the competitiveness of the domestic tourism industry. In addition, we plan to sequentially introduce various contents, such as producing travel package products and holding VIP–invitation events with high purchasing power individuals.”
According to the Korea Tourism Organization, around 350,000 Japanese tourists visited the Republic in the first quarter, an increase of more than 60 times year-on-year. Sales to Japanese customers at Lotte Duty Free increased by +240% in the same period.
Accordingly, Lotte Duty Free is unveiling a range of K-culture marketing activities which target foreigners who want to visit Korea.
In the second half of 2022, Lotte Duty Free completed a model lineup of popular global artists such as Aespa, Lee Jun-ho, Super Junior, Stray Kids and Twice, which directly attracted 500 customers. As reported, the 32nd Lotte Duty Free Family Concert will be held between 16-18 June in physical form for the first time in four years. Through this, more than 5,000 multinational tourists from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Japan and China are expected to visit Korea to attend K-pop concerts and explore tourist attractions. ✈
