SOUTH KOREA. Countrywide duty-free retail sales (excluding inflight) rose +8.4% month-on-month to KRW1,084,505,717,596 (US$779 million) on an almost +8% hike in customer numbers to 2,266,219, according to latest Korea Duty Free Association statistics.
However, sales were down -8.6% year-on-year on a -1.6% fall in customer numbers.
March sales to foreigners rose +11.4% month-on-month to KRW850,540,077,024 (US$610.9 million) though that figure was down -8.8% year-on-year.
Encouragingly, foreigner customer numbers surged +29.2% year-on-year and nearly +14% year-on-year to 846,148.
Conversely, sales to Koreans declined -1.3% month-on-month and -7.9% year-on-year to KRW233,965,640,572 (US$168.1 million) on customer numbers that eased -1.7% month-on-month and -9.1% year-on-year to 1,420,071.
Commenting on the results, a senior Korean travel retail executive told The Moodie Davitt Report: “The number of foreign customers increased a lot from the previous month. This showed the slow but visible return of Chinese tourists. Airport departure traffic and sales [see charts below] recovered strongly.” ✈
