Annual Korea Grand Sale moves online

Food & Travel

Published: 07 Jan. 2021, 16:12

Annual Korea Grand Sale moves online

TV celebrity Eric Nam will explain details of the upcoming Korea Grand Sale, one of the largest annual shopping events for non-Koreans, in a video released on the first day of the sale event on Jan. 14. The sale lasts until Feb. 28. [VISIT KOREA COMMITTEE]

The annual Korea Grand Sale — one of the largest sale events for non-Korean nationals — will go ahead this year, but like many events in the Covid-era, will be held entirely online.

The online sale spree will start Jan. 14, and will last for 46 days and offer discounts of up to 60 percent on food, K-pop goods and more.

The sale event originally started in 2011 and is organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as the Visit Korea Committee and is only open during the winter. The goal has been to catch the attention of international travelers to increase tourism during the colder winter months.

Since leisure travel to Korea is not readily available at the moment, the organizing committee for the sale has decided to offer information on popular travel destinations in Korea so that many can bookmark the spots for their future getaways, as well as a variety of Korean products at discounted prices.

On the first day of the sale, a video featuring celebrity Eric Nam will be released through YouTube and tvN's Asia channel. He will share details about how consumers can get their hands on quality Korean cosmetics, fashion pieces, food as well as K-pop music and more.

There will be online classes from industry experts available for those who want to do more with what they buy. The classes share how to cook Korean food, how to make better use of cosmetics, how to speak Korean and more. Those who participate in these classes will get additional discount coupons to use during the online sale.

For smooth delivery of purchased items, the organizer has joined hands with global shopping platforms like Gmarket and 11th Street.

Those who shop online will get a chance to participate in a draw with prizes they can use the next time they visit Seoul.

For those who want to make more concrete plans for their future trip to Korea, the event also offers plane tickets and hotel rooms as part of the sale promotion. Some hotels offer up to an 80-percent discount on rooms, and local airlines will also unveil discount options when the sale starts on Jan. 14.

Places often visited by international travelers are offering additional discounts as well. Entrance tickets to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Gwacheon branch in Gyeonggi will be 50-percent off while tickets to Seoul Sky observatory in Songpa District, southern Seoul, will be 10 percent cheaper.

“We are trying to make people around the globe consume more of Korea’s shopping and cultural content and have them continue to think of the country as a shopping and travel destination,” said the organizing committee.

“The resilient response to the changed sentiment in the travel trend can help us bring in more international travelers for the post-Covid-19 period.”

BY LEE SUN-MIN [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]