'Korea Grand Sale 2018'
The Visit Korea Committee (VKC) held an opening ceremony for the Korea Grand Sale 2018 in front of Doota Mall in Dongdaemun, Seoul, on January 18, as well as carried out a campaign for local residents and foreigners to encourage friendliness. The ceremony was attended by 100 officials in the tourism industry.
The event, which is held to successfully host the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, celebrate the opening of the Korea Grand Sale, the nation’s shopping festival for foreigners, and promote a warm welcome to foreigners visiting South Korea, commenced with the reading of resolutions by excellent workers in the tourism industry, such as transportation, accommodations, tourist police and tourist guide services. At the ceremony, participants had a performance welcoming foreigners visiting South Korea with friendliness and warm smile and encouraged merchants and local residents in Dongdaemun to create South Korea friendlier to foreign tourists.
The event centers, which will run every day in Dongdaemun for 42 days of the Korea Grand Sale period, is offering free gifts to 100 foreigners who visit the centers on a first-come-first-served basis, including Soohorang and Bandabi, the official mascots of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, raising interest in the PyeongChang Olympics.
During the campaign, Tang Ye, a Chinese, said, “I often visited South Korea and today will be especially more memorable as I felt welcomed with the gift of the2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic mascot dolls from the Korea Grand Sale event booth.” Kim Young-hoo, a policeman participating in the VKC’s K-Smile campaign, said, “I think the friendly attitude to foreign guests is the most important to successfully host the Korea Grand Sale and the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Today was very rewarding because I could share the attitude with not only workers in the tourism industry but also citizens.”
Meanwhile, the VKC and Seoul Metropolitan Government have designated January 26 to February 25 as a special welcoming week for foreign tourists. It will run more temporary tourist offices in Incheon International Airport and Gimpo Airport, the gateways of entering the country, as well as Myeong-dong, Gwanghwamun Gate, Namsan Mountain and Hongik University, the major foreign tourist attracts.
The Korea Grand Sale will take place for 42 days from January 18 to February 28. The festival will offer foreign tourists various special discounts and tourism convenience services in cooperation with 700 companies and 52,000 stores in diverse sectors.