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The Korea Times

By Lee Hae-rin
The Korea Grand Sale kicked off this week, featuring a wider range of travel and shopping benefits for inbound tourists and foreign residents in South Korea.
The annual festival, which runs until February 28, offers promotions exclusive to foreign customers to boost inbound tourism during the off season in January and February.
This year’s shopping festival is joined by 1,680 travel-related companies – a record-high number of participants since its launch in 2011 – which are set to offer a wider range of promotions.

During the event, 10 domestic airlines, including Korean Air and Asiana, offer up to 94 per cent in discounts on 214 international flight routes to Korea, as well as free extra luggage service and on- board Wi-fi vouchers.
Online travel agencies Trip.com and Konest launched a maximum 31 per cent discount on non-Korean airline flights to Korea from China including Hong Kong, and Japan.
Several hotels and resorts, including Ibis Styles Ambassador and Mayfield Hotel, provide a maximum 19 per cent discount on accommodation.
Up to 15 per cent discounts will be offered to foreign shoppers at department stores, duty free shops, hypermarkets and outlets in Seoul, Busan and other major cities across the country.
Kakao Mobility, the operator of the country’s top taxi-hailing service, provides a 3,000 won (US$2) promotion code for users of its foreigner-only taxi-hailing service, k.ride.

Catch Table, a restaurant reservation app, offers discounts, welcome drinks and desserts at some 400 restaurants across the country to those who visit after making reservations through its app.
Musinsa Standard, an in-house fashion brand run by Korea’s largest online fashion shopping platform, Musinsa, offers a 10 per cent discount in 19 stores nationwide.
Shoppers who spend over 150,000 won at five Olive Young stores in Seoul shopping district Myeong-dong will also be given 20 per cent discount coupons.
During the event, information about the festival, retail promotions and event locations in English, Japanese and Chinese will also be available on Naver Map.
Those who make payments with the Wow Pass cashless prepaid card at Olive Young, Daiso and Innisfree stores will receive a maximum 5 per cent in cashback benefits, while UnionPay users will get a 10 per cent discount at over 1,000 retail stores nationwide.

Korea Grand Sale welcome centres in Myeong-dong, Hongdae, Seongsu and Gangnam in Seoul provide booklets with promotion coupons and hold prize giveaway events for visitors.
The festival also features expanded Korean culture tour programmes, encompassing K-pop, Korean cuisine, cosmetics, heritage sites and regional attractions.
Highlights include tours of the Nongshim noodle factory, a fashion modelling class with a leading agency and traditional accessory-making workshops at Seoul’s Bukchon Hanok Village, as well as a soju distillery tour in Gangwon province and taekwondo and skiing experiences in Muju, North Jeolla province.
Read the original story at The Korea Times.


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Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Jang Mi-ran (centre) poses with foreign tourists at the launch of the Korea Grand Sale this week. Photo: South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

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Travel & Leisure

Cheap flights with free Wi-fi, tours, and shopping, hotel and restaurant discounts offered by 1,680 companies to encourage visits to country


Cheap flights with free Wi-fi, tours, and shopping, hotel and restaurant discounts offered by 1,680 companies to encourage visits to country.
