Lotte Aims to Become Largest Duty-Free Shop Operator in Vietnam

Lotte Duty Free announced on July 1 that it opened a duty-free shop at Nha Trang International Airport in Vietnam on June 30 in line with the opening of a new terminal at the airport.

Lotte Duty Free will run the duty-free shop at the airport for 10 years until 2028.

Lotte will operate a duty-free shop at two locations -- one at the departure lounge and the other at the entry lounge. The combined floor space of the two shops is 1,680 square meters. The duty-free shop will sell a wide array of items including cosmetics, perfumes, watches, fashion items, liquors, and tobaccos.

The city of Nha Trang is the most popular tourist destination in central Vietnam, nicknamed “the Naples of the East." Approximately two million foreign tourists visited Nha Trang in 2017 alone and the figure is expected to increase nearly 20% in 2018.

The Lotte Duty Free opened a duty-free shop in Da Nang Airport in 2017, becoming the first Korean duty-free shop operator to make a foray into Vietnam. Lotte Duty Free expects to become Vietnam's largest duty-free shop brand within the next three years as the company is considering opening more duty-free shops in major cities in Vietnam, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

Lotte Duty Free opened its first overseas duty-free shop in Indonesia in 2012 and since then has been running duty-free shops in Ginza and Kansai Airport in Japan, Guam Airport in the US, Jakarta in Indonesia, Bangkok in Thailand, and Da Nang Airport in Vietnam. With the opening of the duty-free shop in Nha Trang International Airport, Lotte Duty Free operates a total of seven overseas branches.