The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister YU In Chon, MCST), in collaboration with the Visit Korea Committee (Chairperson LEE Boo Jin, VKC), concluded the Korea Grand Sale 2025 successfully, attracting a record 346,000+ international visitors from January 15 (Wed.) through February 28 (Fri.). This number represents greater than two-fold growth compared to the previous event.

Promotions in all sectors ranged from shopping, travel and convenience services to K-culture experiences,

Contributed to promoting tourism and domestic consumption with the sale of over 386,000 products, including inbound flights and travel packages

Since its launch in 2011, the Korea Grand Sale has become Korea’s representative shopping and cultural tourism festival that aims to attract foreign tourists and boost consumption during the off-peak tourism season in January and February. This year, a record 1,680 participating companies offered a variety of discounts and promotions across Korea’s tourism and shopping sectors, including flights, accommodations, shopping, food and beverage, and interactive activities, with enhanced convenience services for shopping and travel.

The K-Travel Promotion event recorded the sale of more than 346,000 inbound air tickets (up 103.6% year-on-year) with the participation of 10 domestic airlines, including Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and Eastar Jet, as well as global online travel agencies (OTA). In addition, more than 40,000 tourism products, including accommodation vouchers and interactive activities, were sold (up 258% year-on-year) in partnership with global OTAs, such as Konest and Trip.com.

The K-Shopping Promotion event was joined by major department stores, duty-free shops and outlets, including Shilla, Lotte and Shinsegae, and popular brands, including CJ Olive Young, Musinsa Standard and Ktown4u, with the number of benefits enjoyed totaling over 185,000. Notably, the sales of large retail stores and outlets rose by up to 185% and 27% respectively from the previous year. Furthermore, this year’s new partnerships with a wide range of companies enabled expanded services aimed at more convenient shopping experience for international visitors in transport (discounts on taxi-hailing services via Kakao Mobility), food and beverage (discounts and drinks on reservations made via Catch Table), map services (store information and directions via Naver Map) and payments (cashback via Wowpass, and instant discounts via UnionPay). The number of promotions used for shopping payments surpassed 41,000, a 429% increase compared to the same period last year.

As K-content is widely admired around the globe, the Korea Grand Sale featured a broader range of experience-based events themed with K-pop, K-food, K-beauty, K-cultural heritage and K-local culture (Number of programs: 12 → 19; Locations: 1 → 5 regions). A total of 856 international visitors from 70 countries participated in 19 programs and enjoyed the unique charms of K-culture exclusive to Korea.

Welcome centers in Myeong-dong and other destinations drew over 24,000 visitors, boosting local businesses

The Gyeongju APEC Special Welcome Booth promoted local tourism and the economy

Welcome centers were operated in popular shopping destinations among foreigners, including Myeong-dong, Hongdae, Seongsu, Gangnam and Jamsil. They received some 24,000 foreign tourists, a 10% increase from last year. In addition, 8,120 international visitors (up 24% year-on-year) participated in receipt promotions, revitalizing local spending and businesses.

In time for the First Senior Officials’ Meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025, a special welcome booth ran from February 24 to 28 at Hwabaek International Convention Center in Gyeongju. The booth offered benefits that can be used in local restaurants and cafes as well as on transport and promoted Korean tourism and local festivals.

92.5% of international visitors were satisfied, and 90.6% were willing to return

A survey of inbound foreign tourists during the 2025 Korea Grand Sale period revealed that 92.5% of respondents were satisfied with the event, and 90.6% were willing to revisit Korea during festival periods in the future. These figures represent a 1.7%p and 1.4%p uptick respectively compared to the previous year.

The 10,000th visitor to the welcome center was a Chinese tourist, who mentioned, “I had a convenient shopping experience during the Korea Grand Sale because information on promotions was provided not only in English but also in Chinese.” A tourist from Brazil who joined a K-food experience event said, “This visit was very special in that I could enjoy aspects of Korea’s unique culture in person, such as K-food and K-heritage as well as K-pop, which has gained mainstream popularity in Latin America.”

Director-General KIM Jung Hoon of the Strategic Tourism Export Division at MCST stated, “During this year’s Korea Grand Sale festival, we witnessed a more than twofold increase in foreign tourists compared to the previous year, an achievement made possible thanks to strong interest in K-culture and active public-private partnerships,” adding, “MCST will move forward to further expand appealing tourism content and experience-based programs that reflect everyday life in Korea in line with shifting tourism trends. It will also spare no effort to ensure inbound visitors can enjoy more convenient and satisfying trips to Korea.”