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Korea Grand Sale sets record with 346,000 foreign tourists

Published: 18 Mar. 2025, 12:09 Updated: 18 Mar. 2025, 16:23

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Tourists to Korea and Jang Mi-ran, second vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, middle, attend the 2025 Korea Grand Sale in Jung District, central Seoul, on Jan. 15. [NEWS1]

This year's Korea Grand Sale, a government-run shopping and tourism festival, attracted a record 346,000 foreign tourists, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Tuesday.

Held from Jan. 15 to Feb. 28, the annual event brought together private companies across the airline, lodging, retail and food and beverage industries to offer significant discounts aimed at boosting tourism and spending by international visitors.

A total of 1,680 companies participated — the highest number since the event's launch in 2011.

This year’s festival also introduced new partnerships to improve the shopping experience for foreign visitors, including transportation discounts with Kakao Mobility, dining benefits through Catch Table, navigation support via Naver Map and payment perks such as WowPass cashback and UnionPay instant discounts.

In a survey of attendees, 92.5 percent expressed satisfaction with the event, while 90.6 percent said they were likely to return to Korea during a future Korea Grand Sale.

“Through this year’s Korea Grand Sale, we attracted more than twice as many foreign tourists as last year, thanks to strong global interest in Korean culture and active public-private collaboration,” said Kim Jung-hoon, head of the Tourism Export Strategy Promotion Team at the Culture Ministry.

“We will continue to expand engaging tourism content and immersive cultural programs while enhancing visitor convenience to ensure an even more satisfying travel experience,” he added.

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]