S. Korean retailers thrilled by Beijing`s APEC holidays

South Korea`s duty-free shops and department stores are buoyant over China`s six-day public holiday for the upcoming APEC summit, as a large number of Chinese tourists are expected to rush to book trips to the country. The Chinese government designated November 7 to 12 as public holidays in Beijing to prevent traffic snarls and smog.

South Korean retailers appear to be thrilled by the surprise holidays. Lotte Duty Free expects many of some 10,000 Chinese tourists visiting South Korea for a K-Pop concert to postpone their return by a day or two to enjoy shopping. "The November 7 concert is planned to be exclusively for foreigners, but we had no idea about the holidays," a Lotte Duty Free official said.

The Shilla Duty Free Shop plans to offer five mask packs as gifts to customers purchasing at least one U.S. dollar`s worth of goods from November 7 to 12. In addition, the duty-free shop plans to offer various other giveaways through lottery to users of WeChat, a Chinese social networking service.

Shinsegae, a major South Korean department store, will guide Chinese tourists from the Shilla Seoul Hotel to the department store`s main store in downtown Seoul. It will also offer buyers of goods worth 300,000 won (275 dollars) gift certificates equivalent to 5 percent of the purchase prices.