Overseas tourists who have come to experience in Korea are having their eyes opened to the many traditional markets in the nation. The Joongang Market in Chuncheon City, Gangwon-do (Gangwon City), as the biggest traditional market in the region, is one of the beneficiaries of the renewed interest.
According to statistics given by the city in late April, Chuncheon’s Joongang Market receives an average of 2,000 tourists per day, most of them from neighboring nations like Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Joongang Market has become so popular that it is now one of the key shopping courses for those who came to tour Chuncheon. That fact that Chuncheon was also the birthplace of “Hallyu” (Korean Wave) in Asia didn’t hurt either, having been the backdrop for the popular Korean drama “Winter Sonata” in 2002.
The most popular place in the Joongang market is “Dakgalbi Corner” where over 30 dakgalbi (Korean style chicken rib) restaurants are concentrated. Other Korean delicacies such as makguksu (buckwheat noodles) and tteokbokgi (spicy red rice cakes) are also popular.
Catching up with the trends, quite a number of merchants in the market are now studying Chinese, Japanese or other languages to be able to communicate with their new customers. Jang Bok-soon, 64, who calls herself “Bang-ai” or fat aunt in Chinese, boasted that she can speak Chinese to a certain level. She has even came had own plastic shopping bags and other packaging made that bear her brand name Bang-ai, winning favorable responses from tourists.
“We have some 2,000 tourists frequenting this place per day,” said Jang. “I don’t know what I’d have done without our customers from Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.”
Son Young-seok, 56, who sells souvenirs, can’t agree more. She began selling souvenirs three years ago, after closing down her shoe store which she had run for the past three decades. “About 30 percent of the total revenue comes from overseas tourists. They are the lifeline of our traditional market that has been stagnant for quite some time.”
credits: Koreatimes
The popularity of traditional markets is partially attributed to free gift certificates. Last year foreign tourists who visited Chuncheon received a total of 79.6 million won worth of gift certificates beforehand and spent them there. The certificates did wonders to promote traditional marketplaces.
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