The Jeju Tourism Organization has been chosen to operate a new duty-free shop at the International Passenger Terminal of Jeju Port. The Korea Customs Service says it will announce a separate patent licensee around the second half of next year, once the duty-free store nears its opening date.

Here’s Joseph Kim with more.
The new Jeju International Passenger Terminal opened this year.

[slug]
Duty Free shop at departure terminal to be run by JTO

By 2016, it will house Jeju’s latest duty-free store targeted at the terminal’s 800,000 cruise passengers. And the Jeju Tourism Organization has won the license to operate the duty-free outlet.

Jeju City announced the winner of the license bid after assessing three rival companies.

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High score for funding capability & plans to give back to society

The Jeju Tourism Organization reportedly received high scores for its capability to create funds and plans to convert practically all its revenues into investments for the local community.

SYNC
Kim Si-man / Chief, Jeju Marine and Port Division
We placed an emphasis on how companies would give back to society, and the JTO expressed its intentions to give back almost 100% of its revenue to the local community, and hire 80% of its new employees from Jeju. We gave the JTO high scores for those reasons.
<씽크:김시만/제주특별자치도 해운항만과장>
"이익을 어떻게 지역에 환원하는지가 중요했는데 관광공사는 거의 100%를
지역에 환원한다고 했고, 직원의 80% 이상을 도민으로 뽑겠다고 했기
때문에 그 부분에서도 상당히 좋은 점수를 얻었습니다."

[Camera]
Ko Moon-su

The Jeju Tourism Organization will spend some 9 billion won on 1,700 square meters of land… to build a 2-storey duty-free store with promotion centers that highlight the island and its local specialties. Construction will begin around the end of the year and completion is slated for September 2016.

[INTERVIEW]
Moon Seong-hwan / Chief, Planning Division
Tourists who come to Jeju by cruise ship have shown low satisfaction rates when it comes to shopping here, so we felt we needed to address this issue and the new duty-free store at the cruise terminal was planned for that purpose.
<인터뷰:문성환/기획처장>
"제주를 크루즈항을 통해서 방문하는 외국인 관광객들의 쇼핑 만족도가
굉장히 낮게 나오고 있기 때문에 이런 부분에서 개선이 필요하다, 이런 관점에서 출국장 면세점 운영을 계획하고 있습니다."


The rights to operate the new duty free licence is independent of the patenting rights that will also be up for grabs later next year. Companies wishing to take part in the bid must submit their business plans to the Korea Customs Service separately.

[Reporter]
Joseph Kim

The KCS plans to issue a public announcement around the second half of next year for companies to apply for patent rights to the duty-free store. With projected revenues of over 50 billion won, competition for the rights is expected to be fierce.

Joseph Kim, KCTV