South Korea has never been shy about rolling out the welcome mat, but for winter 2025–26, it is unfurling it earlier and longer than ever before.
The Korea Grand Sale 2026 has officially launched a whole month ahead of schedule, transforming the country’s flagship tourism promotion into its longest-running edition on record. From 17 December 2025 through to 22 February 2026, international visitors — including Australians and New Zealanders planning an escape north will have access to a nationwide menu of travel, shopping and cultural offers timed neatly with peak winter travel demand.
Led by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and delivered in partnership with the Visit Korea Committee, the Korea Grand Sale is no ordinary clearance event. It is a coordinated national festival explicitly designed for foreign travellers, blending hard-nosed retail discounts with the softer power of Korean culture.
And this year, the ambition is unmistakable.
Across the country, visitors can expect discounts and value-added benefits spanning airfares, accommodation, food and beverage, transport, and headline-grabbing K-culture experiences. For travellers, it means a smoother, better-priced journey. For Korea, it is a carefully calibrated bid to convert winter wanderlust into boots on snowy ground.
Retail is where the festival flexes its muscle. Major department store groups, including Lotte, Shinsegae, and The Hyundai, are participating alongside leading duty-free operators, outlets, supermarkets and convenience stores.
Beauty and pop culture devotees are equally well catered for. Global K-beauty powerhouse Olive Young is offering a 10 per cent discount coupon during the promotion period, while K-pop retailer Ktown4u is advertising discounts of up to 90 per cent on selected K-pop, K-beauty and K-food merchandise — a statistic likely to make collectors’ credit cards tremble.
Yet the Grand Sale is not merely about shopping bags and receipts. It is equally an exercise in cultural immersion. Visitors can participate in Korean cooking classes, K-pop dance sessions, and a series of limited-capacity experiences designed to offer genuine access rather than staged spectacle. Highlights include opportunities for selected applicants to attend the MBC Music Festival and the K-TIGERS Soda Pop Dance Challenge, inspired by KPop Demon Hunters, hosted at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.
On the ground, support for international visitors has been expanded through a dedicated Korea Grand Sale Welcome Centre in Myeong-dong, Seoul. Operating daily throughout the event, the centre provides multilingual travel assistance in English, Chinese and Japanese, free Wi-Fi and, in a very Korean flourish, prize giveaways.
For Australian travellers eyeing a winter getaway rich in value, culture and experience, the message is clear: Korea has opened the doors early, and it is inviting the world in.
For full details, participating offers and program updates, visit the official website: https://en.koreagrandsale.co.kr/main.
by Prae Lee – (c) 2025
Read Time: 3 minutes.
About the Writer.
You can tell a lot about a person by how they handle a busy Bangkok morning. Prae Lee doesn’t rush; she glides through it. There’s a calm certainty about her, the sort that comes from knowing where you come from and where you’re going.
Educated at Chulalongkorn University, she took her business degree with the quiet pride of someone who believes in doing things correctly. Her travels for further study in Singapore and Australia didn’t change her; they polished what was already there: curiosity, discipline, and grace.
She returned to her family business in Bangkok, breathing a little modern life into it. She handled social media with the intuition of someone who listens and sells with the gentle persistence the Thais do so well.
Prae doesn’t make a fuss, but everything she touches shines brighter.
Now part of the Global Travel Media family, Prae brings authenticity and quiet confidence to her writing, drawing from a life steeped in culture, travel, and connection.
