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South Korea holds huge shopping event
South Korea has launched a nationwide shopping festival to boost tourism as the country recovers from a recent Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak, an official said on Friday
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outh Korea has launched a nationwide shopping festival to boost tourism as the country recovers from a recent Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak, an official said on Friday.
South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Vice Minister Kim Chong said that after the country was declared free of MERS, which infected 185 people and killed 36, tourists from Hong Kong, Japan and China started to return to South Korea.
'So many tourists came to South Korea for shopping, so we held the sixth Korea Grand Sale,' Kim said during a press conference in Jakarta.
The 79-day festival, held from Aug. 14 to Oct. 31, was launched especially for foreign tourists so they could spend quality time enjoying South Korea, Kim added.
Some 250 companies are participating in the event that is spread across 30,000 venues in Seoul and other major cities. They include shopping malls, fashion brand outlets, food and beverage businesses, transportation, beauty and health and other business sectors.
Each brand in the festival has its own special offers. For example, Jeju Air gave discounts of up to 8 percent for all flights, with restrictions on several seats. Other benefits are various prizes through a lucky draw or the opportunity to go on a date with a K-Pop artist.
Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Jakarta director Oh Hyonjae said the Korean government was giving benefits to Indonesian tourists to make their visits to South Korea easier.
'There are two big benefits for Indonesian tourists. The first one, those who have ever visited South Korea before will get a multiple-entry visa valid for five years. The second one is a group visa, which will be valid for four years, for a tourist group that consists of at least 10 members. We also made the visa process simpler than before,' Oh said. (edn)
