"Special Discount for Taiwan Customers" ... Gukje Market Emerges as a Hotspot for Blankets

[Financial News] On the afternoon of the 27th, Gukje Market in Jung District, Busan, was filled with foreign visitors. Before one could even take in the market’s history as a refuge for war evacuees, the sheer number of foreign tourists caught the eye and ear. The reason many visitors, drawn by the so-called "Busan fever," come to Gukje Market is simple: blankets.
Finding a blanket shop in the market, which sells all kinds of goods, is almost effortless. A quick look at the signs is enough. Nine out of ten stores with a Taiwan flag next to the name are blanket shops. Many signs are written in red with phrases such as "Special Discount for Taiwan Customers" and "Vacuum Packing Available."
Inside the shops, Taiwanese tourists shopping for blankets are also everywhere. Most come as families. As a result, merchants have begun hiring Chinese-speaking staff. One merchant said, "Taiwanese customers have been increasing, but as a Korean, I could not communicate with them, so I hired a part-time worker from Taiwan a year ago." He added, "But one person was not enough, so two months ago I hired a Chinese-speaking employee as a full-time worker. Now I have two foreign employees."

According to merchants, Taiwanese shoppers began visiting blanket stores in Gukje Market in 2023. They started arriving in earnest last year, and this year has reportedly marked the peak. In fact, the number of foreign tourists who visited Busan in the first half of this year rose 43.9% from a year earlier to 2.42 million. Among them, visitors from Taiwan totaled 477,606, or 19.7%, overtaking China with 467,786 visitors to become the top source market.
One blanket shop owner said, "Most of our customers are foreigners." He added, "About 90% are Taiwanese, and the rest come from a wide range of countries, including Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong and China." He went on to say, "In the past, Taiwanese travelers often went to Japan, which they saw as more developed than Korea. But these days, they seem to visit Korea more often. Korean blankets are also easier to wash than Taiwanese ones."
Foreigners’ love for "K-blankets" is not limited to Gukje Market in Busan. It is also visible nationwide, including at Gwangjang Market in Seoul.
The reason Taiwanese shoppers prefer Korean blankets is value for money. Korean blankets reportedly come in a wide variety of designs and are made of high-quality materials. In particular, because Taiwan’s climate has relatively little seasonal variation, people tend to use one blanket for a long time. That makes Korean blankets, which offer better quality for the price, more appealing.
One merchant explained, "Out of a group of 10 Taiwanese visitors, only about two or three actually come to buy Korean blankets." He added, "The rest, who came for tourism, often buy a Korean blanket out of curiosity and then return after using it."
The ability to vacuum-pack the relatively bulky blankets and have them shipped by air is also fueling demand among Taiwanese customers. In fact, blanket bundles with tracking numbers and flight information were seen inside each shop. One merchant said, "The letters and numbers written here are the Taiwanese address." He added, "We do not send the blankets immediately. We wait until orders pile up, then ship them all at once by mail."

[email protected] Baek Chang-hoon Reporter