Acting Chief Choi Visiting Korea Grand Sale: "Full Support for Tourism Infrastructure"

Inspection of Foreign Inbound Tourism Sites

Prime Minister and Acting President Choi Sang-mok, concurrently Minister of Economy and Finance, visited the Korea Grand Sale Myeongdong Welcome Center and Olive Young Myeongdong Town store in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul on the 21st to inspect the site of foreign inbound tourism and encourage the officials.

Choi Sang-mok, Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Strategy and Finance, stated on the 21st, "We will fully support the expansion of inbound tourism to revitalize the domestic economy and the livelihood economy."

Acting President Choi made these remarks during a visit to Myeongdong, Seoul, to assess the recovery of the foreign inbound tourism market and the progress of the '2025 Korea Grand Sale' initiative.

At the Korea Grand Sale Myeongdong Welcome Center, Acting President Choi checked shopping and tourism benefits, multilingual tourist information services, and encouraged over 1,680 participating companies and on-site officials. He also took part in promotional activities, such as presenting souvenirs to the 12,000th foreign tourist visiting the Welcome Center.

He then visited Olive Young Myeongdong Town, known as a 'K-Beauty' shopping tourist destination, where he joined a tour program with foreign tourists and received explanations about popular products. He also inspected the operation status of shopping convenience services for foreign tourists, including immediate VAT refunds.

Acting President Choi told foreign tourists, "We will make every effort to ensure there are no inconveniences, even in small details, throughout all stages of tourism including entry, movement, and shopping."

He urged related ministries, "Please actively develop customized experience programs utilizing Korean culture, daily life, and history, taking advantage of the high preference of foreign tourists who want to experience the latest Korean lifestyle," and pledged to strengthen promotional activities.

He also emphasized, "We will fully support the expansion of tourism infrastructure and content so that the momentum for revitalizing inbound tourism spreads nationwide, taking advantage of events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit to be held in Gyeongju this October."