S. Korea's duty-free sales plunge 37.7% in 2020

Combined sales at South Korea's local duty-free shops went down 37.7 percent from 2019 to 15.5 trillion won last year, according to the data from the Korea Duty-Free Shops Association.

Foreign shoppers accounted for 94 percent of the sales, up from 83 percent in 2019, with South Koreans opting to stay at home.

South Korea hosted 10.67 million visitors in 2020, amounting to only 22 percent of 2019's 48.44 million.

In December, duty-free sales stood at 1.2 trillion won, down 16.6 percent from the prior month.

Before local duty-free shops took a big hit from the fast spread of COVID-19 last year, sales at local duty-free shops had been increasing, with the number surpassing the 20 trillion-won mark in 2019.

The pandemic made it impossible for small-scale Chinese vendors who sell their duty-free purchases back home to visit the country.

China Duty-Free Group, which was the fifth biggest duty-free shop by sales in 2019, took the top spot last year.

Dufry of Switzerland, which was the biggest in 2019, settled for second place.

South Korean players Lotte Duty Free and Shilla Duty Free dipped to third and fifth places last year from second and third a year earlier.