Lotte Hotel goes into the senior residence business

A rendering of VL Osiria, a senior residence that will be open in October 2024. [LOTTE HOTELS & RESORTS]

Lotte Hotels & Resorts is going into senior citizen housing to target Korea's aging population.

On Wednesday the company launched its Vitality & Liberty (VL) brand, which will operate residential complexes for the elderly. It is the first hotel group to go into the business.

The first project, VL Osiria, will open in Gijang County, Busan in October 2024 with 574 residential units.

The company will start taking applications on May 5. People who apply must be over 60 by the time the project opens.

Sun City — a joint venture between Jese Oriental Medical Clinic and HI Investment & Securities — will operate a traditional Korean medicine hospital in the complex.

All of VL’s properties will offer health care, libraries, saunas and gyms. Leisure programs such as yacht tours and painting classes will also be offered.

More VL properties will be opened in major cities.

Companies see business opportunities as Korea ages.

According to Statistics Korea, 20.3 percent of Korea’s population will be 65 or older in 2025, a 3.8 percentage point increase from 2021’s 16.5 percent.

The elderly care market was valued at 72.8 trillion won in 2020, and is expected to grow to 168 trillion won in 2030.

“Seniors between 50 and 74, who make up over 30 percent of Korea’s population, are socially and economically active,” said Ahn Sei-jin, CEO of Lotte Hotels & Resorts. “Using Lotte Hotels & Resort’s customer care know-how accumulated in the leisure and tourism fields, we plan to offer quality services for them through the VL brand.”

Other Lotte companies are joining the trend.

In March, Lotte Corporation established a health care subsidiary, Lotte Healthcare, which will focus on developing services for senior citizens such as customized diets, workout plans and recommending of health supplements.

Lotte Chilsung Beverage announced it will start selling health supplements in the third quarter of this year.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]