Revenue in S.Korean duty free shops hits record high on rising foreign tourists

Revenue in South Korean duty free shops hit a record high on the back of a rising number foreign tourists visiting the country, customs data showed on Thursday.

Revenue of 50 South Korean duty free stores posted a combined 8.93 trillion won (7.93 billion U.S. dollars) for the first nine months of this year, up 36.4 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS).

Given the January-September figure, this year's total revenue in duty free shops is expected to reach almost 12 trillion won, surpassing the previous high of 9.2 trillion won tallied in 2015.

Downtown duty free shops recorded 6.4 trillion won in revenue in the cited period, accounting for 72 percent of the total. The country has 22 downtown duty free stores in major cities such as the capital Seoul, the southern port city of Busan and the southern resort island of Jeju.

Duty free stores in airports and ports posted revenue of 2.08 trillion won, taking up 23 percent. Designated stores made up 5 percent of the total sales.

Per-capita expenditure by foreigners in duty free shops averaged 350 U.S. dollars, more than tripling the 106 dollars spent by local customers. Endit