Tourist sales of luxury goods skyrocket as Covid restrictions ease

Galleria Department Store's Apgujeong Branch, the Luxury Hall, is decorated in Christmas lights on Nov. 21, 2022. [GALLERIA DEPARTMENT STORE]

Foreign consumers are returning to purchase luxury good in department stores as Covid-19 regulations ease.

Hanhwa Solution's Galleria Department Store announced in a statement on Tuesday that its Luxury Hall branch in Apgujeong, southern Seoul, saw its tourist sales increase 500 percent on year between August and January.

Tourist sales accounted for 15 percent of the Luxury Hall's entire sales before the pandemic, but had dropped to 1 percent as Covid-19 restrictions lengthened.

Galleria's Apgujeong branch is second to Lotte Department Store in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, in tourist sales.

The Luxury Hall saw some silver lining in the past six months with tourist sales climbing up to 5 percent, mainly backed by increasing Chinese customers. Other foreign customers were from Southeast Asia, the United State and Japan, mostly shopping for luxury products.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Department Store's The Hyundai Seoul, located in western Seoul, announced that its tourist sales grew 1,143 percent on year between August and January.

The Hyundai Seoul is currently running a promotional event jointly with Seoul Tourism Organization to host tourists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia's travel agencies.

According to Korea Tourism Organization's data, a total of 539,273 tourists visited Korea in December, which was a 498.2 percent on-year increase.

Of the December tourists, 84,175 were Japanese, 8,259 percent more than a year before.

Other tourists were 50,711 Singaporeans, 41,026 Taiwanese, 27,367 Chinese and 27,146 Hongkongers.

BY JUNG SI-NAE [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]