외국인 관광객 소비, 면세점에서 올리브영·백화점·배달로…면세점 객단가는 20% 줄어

Translation

According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 2,093,223 foreign visitors came to Korea in July, up 20.8% on the same month last year, and the cumulative total for January to July was 12.8 million, up 21.3%. Sales to foreigners at Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai department stores in the first half of the year totalled 1.72 trillion won, up 120% on the same period last year, and at CJ Olive Young cumulative purchases by foreigners in its physical stores passed 1 trillion won in January–August, three months earlier than last year, with foreigners' share of offline sales as of August growing from 2% in 2022 to 33%. At Musinsa Standard's Myeongdong store, foreigners accounted for 68% of sales in January–August. Foreign spending has spread beyond shopping to delivery, too: foreigners' delivery orders on Baemin in the first half rose 331%. Duty-free shops, on the other hand, saw 6,644,924 foreign customers in the first half, up 29.4%, yet sales to foreigners rose only 3.2%, from 4.8415 trillion won to 4.9967 trillion won, so spending per foreign customer fell about 20%, from roughly 940,000 won to roughly 750,000 won. This is read as the effect of a market that has shifted from bulk buying by Chinese group tourists and 따이궁 (cross-border resellers) to individual travellers, whose shopping routes have widened to department stores, Olive Young, Daiso, convenience stores and fashion shops.