Tour certificates take center stage

Department store gift certificates or culture certificates, which one can use for movies, plays or buying books, have been gifts of choice for many Koreans.
Now a new favorite is emerging ― travel certificates, which can be used for trips with a designated travel operator.
Hana Tour Service Inc., Korea’s largest travel operator, started selling the travel certificates in 2000. The sales, which only amounted to 100 million won ($106,146) in 2000, have snowballed to 2.4 billion won as of last year, and the sale so far this year has already hit the 2.9 billion won mark.
The tour operator said the overall sales for this year would well exceed 6 billion won given the upcoming vacation seasons of Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and Christmas.
Other travel operators that sell such certificates, including Modetournetwork Inc., Lotte Tour Development Co. and Yellow Balloon Tour, also said their certificate sales this year would more than double last year’s.
“Those who spend more than 60 percent of the value of the certificates can get the remaining balance in cash, so they are usually used in companies as employee rewards or incentives,” said one Hana Tour representative.

By Kim Chang-woo JoongAng Ilbo [hawon@joongang.co.kr]