A Shopping and Tourism Festival That Foreigners Should Not Miss
The Visit Korea Committee will host the “2020 Korea Grand Sale,” a shopping and tourism festival for foreigners that will run in all parts of Korea for 45 days from Jan. 16 to Feb. 29.
To give foreign tourists the pleasure of tour in Korea, the 2020 Korea Grand Sale will offer them discounts in shopping, flight and accommodation as well as special promotions that utilize Korean cultural content such as K-Pop, K-Beauty, and K-Food, which are attracting global attention.
The festival has also strengthened its aspect as an inbound tourism promotion to attract foreign visitors to Korea. Eight domestic airlines -- Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Eastar Jet, T'way, Air Busan and Air Seoul -- are participating in a pre-promotion offering discounts of up to 95 percent on some 100 South Korean-bound routes from overseas. In particular, the benefits of regional airport routes from overseas were strengthened to enhance visits by foreign tourists to provincial areas.
Through the “Make Your Own Train Travel” program, the festival will increase convenience in the transportation sector to allow foreign tourists to experience local tourism more easily, such as providing bundled tickets of KTX and major tourist attractions (up to 35 percent discount), direct airport train fare (Incheon Airport – Seoul Station) and 1+1 local bus travel packages (50 percent discount) of K Travel Bus and EG Tour Bus.
Meanwhile, more than 300 hotels nationwide will participate in the tourism festival to activate inbound by providing up to 80 percent discount.
Special Promotions from K-Pop to K-Heritage
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the 2020 Korea Grand Sale will invite foreign tourists by preparing a promotion to experience Korea’s own culture. Along with Korea’s leading brands, it will form five special promotions such as K-Pop, K-Beauty, K-Food, K-Heritage, and K-Winter, and invite foreign tourists to the site of experience.
First of all, foreign tourists will be able to enjoy K-Pop performances and learn choreography in person with 1Million Dance Studio, a dance school in Seoul with 187 million YouTube subscribers, awards at the Seoul Music Awards and M Countdown.
To help foreign visitors learn the essence of K-Beauty, the Sulwhasoo flagship store, which has established itself as a world-class luxury brand, will provide a special class that will showcase the Korean skin-care regimen, while offering discount for Sulwhasoo products and special gifts to foreigners visiting a flagship store with Korean Grand Sale coupons.
Korean food tour will also add to the fun. More than 350 restaurants from all over the country participate in this event to provide Korean flavors of fun, introduce “it café,” targeting 2040 women, and conduct stamp tours. The food and beverage businesses of domestic hotels and resorts also expanded their participation in the Korea Grand Sale. The Korea Grand Tasting, which follows last year, is a collection of Korean hotel cuisine, with over 65 businesses participating to organize special Korean Grand Sale menus and offer discounts of up to 25 percent. Besides this, Nightscape Korea will offer a beautiful and modern night view of Korea as well as the taste of Korea.
Korean traditional culture experience programs will also be held. Together with the Korea Cultural Heritage Administration and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, the 2020 Korea Grand Sale has strengthened promotion to inform and experience Korea’s cultural heritage by setting up a World Heritage VR Experience Zone and a special Korean craft experience class for free.
In addition, as a winter tourism promotion, it will strengthen its promotions of ski products and linkages with domestic winter festivals along with Gangwon Province and major ski resorts. It plans to make it easier for foreigners to purchase winter products and experience them, with up to 40 percent discount on ski resort stays, lift tickets, equipment and clothing rentals offer discounts up to 50 percent.
Foreign invitation event
The 2020 Korea Grand Sale will also hold the foreign invitation event in line with its spirit. Along with the Overseas Culture and Information Service, foreigners selected from a total of 10 countries, including China, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Germany and Spain, will be invited to enjoy the special promotion and benefits of the Korean shopping and cultural tourism festival in person. They are supposed to promote the festival in real time so that more foreigners can feel attractive Korea and visit.
1,000 joys from over 1,000 companies!
The benefits of the Korea Grand Sale can be found any paths on your trip to Korea. This year's edition, which will be the largest ever, offers benefits for individual tourists not only from flights, accommodation, but also from a wide variety of aspects, including shopping, transportation, performance, food and beverage, and hands-on products. About 1,000 companies from convenience stores to duty-free shops, experience and exhibition halls participated in preparing the tour package at up to 50 percent discounts, including 1+1 offer of popular GS25 products, immediate discount and rewards by Lotte Duty Free Shop by amount of purchase, Everland ticket, SM TOWN Museum and admission fee to the National Museum of Art. On top of that, a special promotion will be offered for "Hands Free Service," a baggage delivery and storage service between hotels, airports and major hubs in Seoul, and "Korea Tour Card," a transportation tour card for foreigners.
Convenience service is bonus!
The Visit Korea Committee will enhance the convenience service and spread the welcome atmosphere for foreigners visiting Korea during the Korea Grand Sale period. Welcome centers will be installed at Dongdaemun, Incheon and Gimpo Airports, which are major hubs of foreigners. Through the Visiting Tourist Service Center, it will provide a gift event and experience program along with convenience services such as events, tour guides and interpreters to enhance the convenience and satisfaction of travel to Korea. In addition, it will also work with 28 tourist information centers across Seoul to actively promote the Korea Grand Sale guidelines as well as discounts for foreigners who have visited the country.
Han Kyung-a, director of the Visit Korea Committee, said, “We will prepare well together with the tourism industry to make the Korea Grand Sale a festival where you can experience and consume various cultures of Korea with a pleasant shopping experience.”
Meanwhile, the Visit Korea Committee has pre-opened the flight, accommodation and experience promotions, is conducting the promotion of the Korea Grand Sale through overseas online and SNS advertisements by target market and overseas briefing sessions and fairs, and companies that want to participate can apply through the Korea Grand Sale website (https://en.koreagrandsale.co.kr).