Duty-Free Shops with 40% Drop in Visitors in April

35,000 Visitors Down 40%
Total Sales Also Decrease by 9.3%
Big Spenders Daigong Retreat Due to Self-Quarantine Measures

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] The shadow of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that has engulfed the duty-free industry deepened further in April.

According to the Korea Duty Free Shop Association on the 25th, the number of visitors to domestic duty-free shops in April was recorded at 354,362, shrinking by about 40% compared to 587,879 in the previous month.

During this period, the number of domestic and foreign visitors was 236,625 and 117,737 respectively, down 27.4% and 55.1% compared to the previous month.

Total sales in April amounted to 986.7 billion KRW, a 9.3% decrease from 1.0873 trillion KRW in the previous month, showing a larger decline compared to the 1.4% drop in March. Compared to April last year (1.9947 trillion KRW), sales were reduced to less than half. In particular, since March sales were at a similar level to February (1.1026 trillion KRW) with 1.0873 trillion KRW, the impact was strongly felt.

A duty-free industry official said, "In March, daigou (Chinese personal shoppers) seemed to resume commercial activities, but from April 1st, South Korea implemented a 14-day self-quarantine policy for all arrivals, causing more people to avoid traveling to Korea," adding, "With all international arrivals unified to Incheon International Airport, we do not expect any significant rebound in May."

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the 'International Flight Concentration Plan at Incheon' in April and unified all international arrivals to Incheon International Airport starting from the 6th, including Jeju International Airport and Gimhae International Airport. The number of international departing passengers from Incheon Airport in April also plummeted by 99% compared to the same month last year, totaling 32,646.