GWANGJU < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

A duty-free shop for foreigners will be built in Gwangju, for the first time in Honam region.

On Feb. 13, Gang Un-tae, Gwangju City Mayor, proposed that a duty-free shop for foreigners be built downtown during discussion on national budgets with Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Blue House Secretary Ha Geum-yeol, and the central government accepted the proposal.

An official at Gwangju City said, "So far, foreign tourists have concentrated on the Seoul Metropolitan Area, because there are no duty-free shops in Honam region. We have had difficulty in attracting tourists and cultivating the tourism industry," adding that "We agreed to build a duty-free shop as soon as possible."

Currently, there are a total of 10 duty-free shops nationwide including six in Seoul and two in Busan and Jeju, respectively.

Gwangju City plans to apply for the establishment of the duty-free shop in the downtown area after reviewing candidate locations including an area near Mt. Eodeung tourism theme park.

Mayor Gang got positive comments from the central government upon the request of supports in the following areas: conducting next generation multi-purpose accelerator project; establishing Northeast Asia Commodity Exchange, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Science and Research Institute of Culture and Technology; expanding the highway connecting from the eastern Gwangju area to Gwangsan IC; covering all the expanses for operation of Gwangju National Science Museum.                  

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Feb. 13, 2012)

** This is an English translation of a Korean news article.