Chinese tourists have replaced Koreans as the biggest buyers at South Korea’s duty-free shops, data showed Sunday, amid a surge in the number of visitors from the world’s No. 2 economy.
According to Korea Customs Service data submitted to parliament, Chinese nationals spent some $863.3 million at the duty-free shops here through July this year, hovering above $845.7 million won spent by South Koreans.
It marked the first time for a foreign group to spend more than local residents at duty-free shops.
The growth came as the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea jumped 46 percent on-year to 1.74 million in the first half, also surpassing for the first time the number of Japanese visitors totaling 1.34 million.
The number of Japanese visitors shed 27 percent on-year in the January-June period as the weak Japanese yen made it more expensive to travel abroad.
In 2012, Chinese tourists jumped to become No. 2 buyers by spending $1.05 billion at duty-free shops, surpassing Japanese visitors for the first time, who spent $665.9 million. South Koreans spent $1.6 billion won.
Through August this year, local duty-free shops saw their sales reach 4.4 trillion won, with Lotte Duty Free accounting for 52.1 percent, trailed by Shilla Duty Free with 30.7 percent and JDC Duty Free with 5.1 percent. (Yonhap News)
