Lotte Duty Free holds grand reopening ceremony at Changi Airport

Lotte Duty Free held a grand opening ceremony for its Changi Airport store in Singapore, marking the official start of its 19 stores.

Lotte Duty Free entered Singapore in 2019 after winning the concession for Changi Airport, which had been operated by US-based DFS for 40 years.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that soon followed, the company operated only a few stores from June 2020, before reopening all stores in December last year.

Lotte Duty Free expects the number of passengers at Changi Airport to exceed pre-COVID levels this year, and plans to increase its overseas sales to more than 1 trillion won ($747.6 million) annually based on the normalization of the Changi Airport store.

Lotte Duty Free will exclusively sell alcohol and tobacco items at the Changi Airport store. It will offer more than 430 brands, including single malt whiskies such as Macallan and Glenfiddich, as
well as wines and vodkas.

The store also utilizes the latest technology to enhance the experience, including robotic bartenders, large-screen media and smart mirrors that allow customers to take photos with K-pop stars.

The company plans to take the lead in the global liquor duty-free market, centered on the Changi Airport store.

"Changi Airport will be the cornerstone of Lotte Duty Free's quantum leap into a global travel
retailer," said Kim Joo-nam, CEO of Lotte Duty Free, at the opening ceremony.

Last December, Lotte Duty Free reacquired the business rights to Brisbane Airport in Australia, and
currently operates 14 stores in six countries.

It also plans to strengthen its overseas business in earnest this year and expand the proportion of overseas sales to more than 30 percent within five years.

Write to Sun A Lee at suna@hankyung.com