Korea Grand Sale 2024 attracts record 120,000 overseas tourists

The annual shopping and tourism festival, the Korea Grand Sale 2024, attracted a record number of 120,000 tourists to the country, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday.

Foriegn tourists visit a welcome center and receive offline shopping coupons in Seoul during the 2024 Korea Grand Sale period which ran from Jan. 11 to Feb. 26. [YONHAP]

The annual shopping and tourism festival, the Korea Grand Sale 2024, attracted a record number of 120,000 overseas tourists to the country, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday.

It ran for 50 days, from Jan. 11 to Feb 26, collaborating with more than 1,650 brands in industries this year such as travel, hospitality, shopping, food and beverage to offer promotional events and hands-on K-content-related booths.

The festival was the first event scheduled under the 2024 Visit Korea campaign, the biggest tourism project by the Culture Ministry that aims to leverage K-culture to attract visitors to the country through events, travel packages and promotional campaigns. A total of 17.8 billion won ($13.3 billion) has been allocated to the Visit Korea Year campaign in 2024.

The ministry said that the 2024 Korea Grand Sale sold some 87,500 plane tickets to Korea through partnerships with nine local airlines, and saw over 10,000 travel packages sold through its partnerships with online travel platforms. It also saw 269 percent and 122 percent on-year increases in sales at its promotional events with duty-free shops and department stores, respectively. In its promotional event with China's card company UnionPay, over 5,000 tourists received discounts.

Welcome centers across key tourism neighborhoods in Seoul saw double the number of foreign tourists to the centers compared to last year, according to the ministry. Some 21,770 tourists came to the centers and received a coupon book for offline shopping at Korea's department stores and duty-free shops as well as information about the Korea Grand Sale.

A total of 74 K-content-related activities, such as K-pop dance lessons and makeup sessions, were held throughout the festival. The ministry reported some 900 tourists from 52 countries took part in these activities.

A total of 90,8 percent of the tourists who participated in the 2024 Korea Grand Sale were "satisfied" and 89.2 percent said that they were willing to visit Korea during the festival period in the future, according to the Ministry survey of those who visited the welcome centers during the festival period.

"The first event scheduled under the 2024 Visit Korea campaign concluded with success," said Park Jong-taek, director-general of the Culture Ministry’s Tourism Policy Bureau, "This outcome will propel the campaign and the continual growth of Korean tourism."

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]