Retail, tourism industries step up efforts to attract overseas tourists

South Korea’s tourism and retail industries are pulling out all stops to bring back tourists as the Middle East respiratory syndrome death toll remains flat with no new cases recently.

In order to revive the markets hit hardest by the MERS outbreak, the tourism, aviation and retail industries are working together to win back Chinese and Japanese tourists by holding events and inviting foreign tourism officials to ease worries and revive interest in Korean tourism.

South Korea’s second largest carrier Asiana Airlines will invite 390 Japanese figures from various fields including travel agencies, local government and media firms to convince that the country is safe to visit.

“Such events are expected to help increase the number of visits to Korea as the foreign tourism-related officials could see that the country is safe during their stay here,” an Asiana official said.

The three-day event, which will kick off July 24-26, is jointly organized by the Korea Tourism Organization, Lotte Duty Free and Incheon International Airport.

The Japanese group will visit major tourist destinations around Seoul, such as popular shopping district Myeong-dong.

Duty-free stores, which suffered from a sharp plunge in sales are offering discounts and promotional items to attract more visitors.

The Shilla Duty Free outlet will offer a free ticket for theme park Everland and a T-money transportation card to Chinese tourists who spend more than $1 at its stores in Seoul.

Last month, the CEO of Hotel Shilla, Lee Boo-jin, asked Chinese top executives of state-run travel firms, including CTS and CYTS, to encourage citizens to make the trip to South Korea during her visits to Beijing and Shanghai.

Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s largest operator of duty-free shops, also invited heads of major Chinese tour companies and journalists for a three-night tour from July 15 to 18.

Since the first case of MERS detected in May, the anxiety of the spread of the viral respiratory disease has been exported.

Over 136,000 foreigners -- mostly from China, Japan and Taiwan -- have canceled their trip to Korea in the month from June 5, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Last year, a record 14.2 million visited the country.

The government estimates that a 20 percent drop in visits during the peak June and August tourism seasons would cost the industry $900 million in lost revenue. 

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)