Korea Grand Sale to Kick Off in August

During the trade and investment promotion meeting presided by President Park Geun-hye on July 9, the government announced to hold the annual “Korea Grand Sale” event, which usually takes place during winter, in Aug. this year. Also, it said that group tourists from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines will be exempted from their US$15 (17,316 won) per person visa application fee until the end of Sept.

Meanwhile, participating companies will offer special sale events, such as buy-one-get-one-free deals, buy-two-get-one-free deals, and discounts of more than 50 percent, chances to receive a selection of attractive gifts, and early bird promotions that provide extra benefits to foreign visitors who apply for the event. Packages will be offered that bring together various industries including airlines, accommodations, food and beverages, and beauty, and combination products between culture and arts and shopping tours. The event's base center will coordinate large offline promotions such as foreign tourist welcome week, giveaway events, and cultural experience events.

The government will encourage participation from the governments of Seoul, Busan, and Jeju to encourage participation in the event. It will make use of available advertising media at airports to promote the event, provide a regional familiarization tour to officials of the overseas tourism industry and the media, develop products linked to K-shuttles, hold private enterprise-associated overseas road shows, and jointly participate in the international tourism fair. The government also plans to utilize overseas social media services, online channels, and print media, including fashion and travel magazines, to introduce the Korea Grand Sale as tourism content. The government will promote the Korea Grand Sale at government exchange events and public organizations’ international events, and hold K-pop and Korean Wave events for foreign tourists, pushing national promotional campaigns to achieve good results.

The Korea Grand Sale is an event that not only offers good shopping opportunities to foreign visitors, but also enhances their travel experience in Korea by integrating shopping, the Korean Wave, and tourism. The event introduces a wide variety of great Korean products and offers diverse cultural experience programs and other benefits. The Korea Grand Sale will take place across Korea from Aug. 21 to Oct. 31, 2015.