Card combines department store discounts and rewards with transit functionality

Benefits extend to more than 70 affiliated merchants across South Korea

Transit card and L.Point features packed into a single card

[Lotte Card]
[Lotte Card]

Lotte Card has launched a prepaid card for foreign tourists that combines shopping discounts and transit functionality in a single product. The card offers benefits at Lotte affiliates and more than 70 domestic merchants, with the aim of making payments more convenient for visitors to South Korea.

Lotte Card announced Monday that it has partnered with the flagship Lotte Department Store to introduce the "Lotte Department Store Tourist Membership X Check-in Seoul" card, exclusively for foreign tourists.

The product combines Lotte Department Store's foreigner-exclusive "Lotte Tourist Membership" with Lotte Card's foreigner-exclusive "Check-in Seoul" prepaid card, bundling shopping discounts, transit card functionality, and L.Point accumulation and redemption into one card.

Cardholders receive a 5 percent discount and 10 percent rewards at the flagship Lotte Department Store, as well as 10 percent discounts at Lotte duty-free shops, Seven-Eleven and Lotte Mart. Benefits also extend to more than 70 affiliated merchants, including CJ Olive Young and other retail stores, restaurants and beverage outlets such as Samwon Garden and Mahogany, and cultural venues including D Museum and hanbok rental shops.

The card can be applied for at six dedicated kiosks at the flagship Lotte Department Store. Check-in Seoul kiosks, which support top-ups and refunds, are available at about 200 locations, including Lotte Department Store branches, Lotte Mart stores and Incheon Airport. Detailed partnership benefits and terms of use are available through the dedicated Check-in Seoul app.

Tourism spending in South Korea is rising rapidly alongside a surge in foreign visitors. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, 15.05 million foreign tourists visited South Korea from January through August this year, up 21.6 percent from the same period last year. Card spending by foreigners in the tourism sector over the same period reached 14.02 trillion won ($10.5 billion), a record high and a 48.5 percent increase.

"In response to the growing number of visitors to South Korea, we partnered with the flagship Lotte Department Store to introduce a dedicated product that makes it easy to enjoy a wide range of benefits while in the country," a Lotte Card official said. "The card's design features Lotte World Tower, Namsan and Gyeongbokgung rendered in mother-of-pearl, capturing the beauty of Korea."


snsd@heraldcorp.com