SOUTH KOREA. The government has released its blueprint for streamlining immigration and customs services at Seoul Incheon International Airport, with seven new duty free shops to total 43.
The opening hours of duty free shops will also be lengthened by half an hour to close at 9.30pm, as part of an ambitious bid to boost the northeast Asia hub.
The master plan also confirms the formation of a tariff-free zone, which will allow freedom from duty and other tax benefits, on 990,000sq m (10.7 million sq ft) of land inside the airport area by 2005. Late last year the Incheon International Airport Corp (IIAC) decided to develop more duty free shops inside the zone. Since then they have reviewed the possible space and fine-tuned contracts with retailers.
The IIAC has allocated two shops for each of its existing retailers without a tender, with the total space for each retailer being 89sq m (958sq ft). Three of the retailers – Duty Free Korea (KNTO), Lotte Duty Free and AK Duty Free – accepted all the conditions, but DFS Korea decided to take only one shop. The shops will open next month.
Part of the tariff-free area will include an international business zone, which will chiefly target foreign investors to house hotels and offices on a site spanning 3.14 square kilometres.
In 2005, Incheon will adopt a system that uses advance notification of passengers’ information, thus exempting Korean citizens from the need to fill out immigration forms. The Ministry of Construction and Transportation will also introduce a passport with a biometric chip planted inside, that identifies either passengers’ faces, fingerprints or other physical characteristics.
Furthermore, the Construction Ministry said it will accelerate cooperation with tourism agencies to increase chartered flights that run between 11.00pm and 6.00am starting early next year. For this, the operating hours of the buses that link the airport to downtown Seoul will be extended up to 12.00am.
The Ministry said that it has entered negotiations with other related ministries to carry out the plan, part of the government’s ambition to climb from 10th place to fifth place globally in terms of international passenger traffic by 2010.
