Holding the shopping & tourism festival
‘Korea Grand Sale’ for foreigners
- Focusing on greeting foreigners for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
- Offering a broad range of benefits during the six weeks of the “Brand Day” sale
- Increasing overseas promotions after the return of the Chinese market
The Visit Korea Committee (VKC, Chairman Park Sam-Koo) opens the 2018 Korea Grand Sale, an annual shopping and cultural tourism festival targeting foreigners that runs from January 18 (Thu) until February 28 (Wed), 2018.
The Korea Grand Sale promotes foreign tourism by providing a wide range of exciting cultural and shopping opportunities in South Korea. As KGS overlaps with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, foreign tourists are expected to receive more benefits from the six weeks of “Brand Day”. The tourism content of Gangwon province is to be improved as well.
Since it is predicted that a great number of foreign tourists will visit South Korea during the Korea Grand Sale and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, we are operating a special welcoming week from January 26 to February 25, 2018. KGS and Seoul City are collaborating to create a tourism guide and provide interpretation services at temporary tourist information desks and event centers located at seven spots around the metropolitan area. Furthermore, we will perform various prize-giving events and open interactive street events to passionately greet foreign tourists visiting our country.
Mainly, several companies in Gangwon province, the host place holding the Winter Olympics, are participating in this event and looking forward to make Korea Grand Sale more rewarding. Not only resorts such as Hansol Oakvalley Resort and Welli Hilli Park located in Gangwon province are coming up with exciting benefits, but Kyeongpo Aquarium, Dynamic Maze and Alive Heart unlocks the beauty of Gangwon province by offering shopping benefits and free souvenirs. To make foreigners enjoy sightseeing spots in Gangwon province more comfortably and effortlessly, we are giving away prizes to 'K Travel Bus' Gangwon bus route users and opening the day for free bus ride on February 13. Not only this, we have added the temple stay benefits that are hugely popular by foreign tourists. Specifically, we are planning to provide the opportunity to foreigners to enjoy Korea's unique culture by offering 20% discount on 10 temples nationwide including temples located in Gangwon province such as Woljeongsa and Baekdamsa temple.
The added enjoyment of 2018 Korea Grand Sale is the Brand Day held for six weeks. The VKC features new shopping benefits everyday during our event period. Shinsegae Duty Free offers a 50,000 won gift certificate for purchases over $1 (Feb 16) and Woongjin Play Doci offers free admission to 100 visitors on a first-come-first-serve basis at a specific date. Also, many participating companies including Paradise, Seven Luck Casino, National Hyundai Museum, N Seoul Tower, Seoul Land and many more are planning to offer Brand Day shopping benefits.In particular, to draw attention of small and medium-sized businesses, we offer special promotion to mid-sized hotel, accommodation, restaurant, street eateries and others. VKC also plans to offer free online marketing training for small and mid-sized business owners to support their participation in the event with 'Google Korea', VKC's member company.
On the other hand, the committee members in sectors of airline, accommodation, transportation, distribution, finance and entertainment are coming up with exciting benefits to make this cultural and tourism festival more advantageous than ever. Korean Air is opening a free air ticket prize event for customers who purchased flights arriving to South Korea from Southeast Asia or Oceania. Also, Asiana Airlines is offering 60% discount on flights arriving to South Korea from China, Southeast Asia and Europe and providing a one free checked bag for passengers from Japan and Southeast Asia air route. Jeju Air offers up to 95% discount on flights arriving to South Korea from overseas. Also, Lotte Hotel (Seoul, World, Jeju, Ulsan, Busan) offers a coupon that can be exchanged to Lotte Duty Free prepaid card valued 40,000 won and L7 Myeong-dong offers a coupon that can be exchanged to Lotte Duty Free prepaid card valued 20,000 won. When presenting the Korea Grand Sale coupon at Lotte World Mall’s Seoul Sky Observatory, foreign tourists can receive 10% special discount. Hana Tour offers 20% discount on Running Man Experience Hall and 55% discount on Mark Hotel (T Mark Grand, T Mark, Center Mark Hotel).
Together, Korea Tour Card offers transportation and discount benefits for foreign tourists and Hands Free Service provides assistance in luggage to shop conveniently. During the Korea Grand Sale, VKC is conducting the special promotion for 5,000 foreigners through the prize-giving event. Also, the Hands Free Service offers luggage delivery service between hotels and airports for 50% discounted price helping foreign tourist to shop easily and conveniently.
Secretary General Han Kyung-Ah of VKC says, "The event in 2018 overlaps with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, so we are creating an uplifting atmosphere and preparing to welcome our incoming foreign guests.” Also, “we will make efforts to revitalize the foreign tourist market that has been weak as of late“.
VKC will also organize active domestic and overseas promotions to advertise Korea Grand Sale to foreign tourists. On the opening day of the Korea Grand Sale, VKC will actively promote this event to foreign tourists by using the wrapping advertisement in the airport railroad. Additionally, we are holding a business information session in Dalian in partnership with Asiana Airlines (Dec 15), in Yantai in partnership with the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization & Korea Tourism Organization (Dec 16) and in Shanghai in partnership with Korean Air (Dec 19). VKC will continue focusing on Korea favorable markets such as Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia and further expand its overseas road show to England, France and India. Currently, VKC is conducting keyword and online banner advertisement through popular overseas portal and travel information sites such as Google, Baidu and Yahoo. Also, it is actively advertising the Korea Grand Sale by using overseas networks of private committee members, related organizations and more.
If you want to learn more about the Korea Grand Sale, please visit the official website (www.koreagrandsale.co.kr).
[Contact] Marketing Team Kim Hyun-Jun
(hjk@vkc.or.kr / 02-6272-7305)
* Korea Grand Sale Websites
1) English(ENGLISH) : http://www.koreagrandsale.co.kr/en/
2) Japanese(日本語) : http://www.koreagrandsale.co.kr/jp/
3) Simplified Chinese(简体中文) : http://www.koreagrandsale.co.kr/cn/
4) Traditional Chinese(繁體中文) : http://www.koreagrandsale.co.kr/tw/
5) Korean : http://www.koreagrandsale.co.kr/ko/
