Lotte Duty Free has announced a plan to make its World Tower Duty Free store into a landmark of North East Asia.

Lotte will invest over 1 trillion won to make the location an international tourist spot that will exceed the popularity of its headquarters in Sogong-dong.

Lotte Duty Free revealed at a press conference that it will be investing an additional 1.2 trillion won (US$874.97 million) over the next five years to expand the size of its duty free store, creating a one and only ‘Tourism and Shopping Complex Duty Free Store’ in the world.

With the changes, Lotte has estimated that by 2020, it will have an accumulated 5 trillion won revenue in foreign currency, an added value of 4.8 trillion won, and direct and indirect employment of 27,000 people. The accumulated number of foreign visitors during this period is expected to be 28 million.

Based on these numbers, Lotte plans to make its World Tower duty free shop the No.1 store in the world, as well as an international landmark.

Lotte has suggested the creation of a ‘Gangnam Tourism Belt’ to reach its goals. By building a large-scale musical fountain, the company is hoping to make the site into a tourist hot spot like the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, or the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

By promoting its duty-free store along with the highest observatory, a vineyard classic hall, an aquarium, a multiplex and Lotte World Adventure, Lotte is hoping to make World Tower the largest tourism hub south of the Han river.

In order to attract more foreign visitors, Lotte plans to operate a city tour bus that connects Gangnam and other parts of the city, creating a Gangnam culture belt.

Lotte Duty Free also announced that it has signed an agreement with municipal authorities in Songpa-gu, Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu to cooperate in revitalising tourism in Gangnam.

* Original reporting by M H Lee of Koreabizwire.com