A banner shows explanations in Japanese for international guests at an optical retailer in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Monday. Korea Instances picture by Lee Hae-rin
Transfer over, Okay-pop and Okay-beauty. There’s a brand new craze sweeping the streets of Seoul and it’s all about getting your eyesight sorted and your fashion up to date.
Overseas vacationers are ditching the everyday itinerary to hit up native optical retailers, turning the “Okay-glasses tour” into the latest must-do expertise alongside their magnificence and medical tourism stops. They’re lining up for stylish frames and fast, handy eye exams, making designer eyewear the last word journey memento.
On a Monday afternoon in central Seoul’s Myeong-dong procuring district, a three-story optical store displayed indicators in a number of languages, whereas employees members guided worldwide guests in English, Chinese language and Japanese from body shows to vision-testing rooms.
The shop additionally featured a snack bar and seating areas, giving it a really feel extra like an airport lounge than a clinic. Round 200 pairs of glasses are offered each day, and employees say roughly 70 p.c of gross sales come from worldwide guests.
Katherine Wu, visiting from Taiwan, found the shop on social media and stopped by to purchase contact lenses.
“This can be a nice cease for vacationers, together with beauty and Okay-pop merchandise procuring. Workers are tremendous cool, and the attention exams are systematic and reliable,” she stated.
Alice, a vacationer from Australia, stated that ChatGPT had beneficial she go to an optical store throughout her keep in Seoul.
“It’s tremendous straightforward, fast and inexpensive,” she stated. “I nonetheless can’t imagine I bought prescription glasses prepared in about an hour.”
As of Monday, the shop had greater than 2,000 on-line opinions, with a mean rating of 4.9 out of 5. Guests from nations together with america, Canada and Singapore described the expertise as “English pleasant,” “extremely pleasant, skilled and environment friendly” and “extremely beneficial for vacationers.”
Overseas guests strive on glasses at an optical retailer in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Monday. Korea Instances picture by Lee Hae-rin
For a lot of vacationers, velocity is the primary attraction. Of their dwelling nations, eye exams, lens grinding and becoming can take every week or two, however in Seoul, your entire course of is usually accomplished inside half-hour to an hour for traditional prescriptions.
That effectivity is partly constructed into the method.
Korean opticians can carry out exams and subject prescriptions in a single location, compressing what would require a number of appointments in different nations into one go to. For vacationers on tight schedules, same-day pickup transforms a medical necessity right into a handy memento.
Value is one other key attraction.
Vacationers typically discover that high-quality lenses and trendy frames come at affordable charges — generally greater than half of what they might pay of their dwelling nations.
In line with journey platform Creatrip, transaction quantity for journey packages that embrace optical retailers from June to October this 12 months elevated by about 1,608 p.c in contrast with the earlier 5 months, although it has been lower than a 12 months for the reason that firm started providing such applications, reflecting surging curiosity in Korean eyewear.
Prospects reserving optical store applications by way of Creatrip come from nations throughout Asia, North America and Europe, with People accounting for about 49 p.c of all reservations, adopted by Taiwanese at 26 p.c and Germans at 9 p.c.
Korean eyewear manufacturers like Mild Monster, which options BLACKPINK’s Jennie and actress Tilda Swinton as promoting fashions, have turned showrooms into gallery-like areas, mixing artwork installations with eyewear shows and leveraging celeb collaborations to gasoline world buzz. The model expects annual income to surpass 1 trillion gained this 12 months, with abroad markets accounting for about 40 p.c of whole gross sales.
Blue Elephant, an rising eyewear model, can also be posting exceptional development, with its gross sales reaching round 30 billion gained final 12 months — greater than 5 instances the earlier 12 months.
In the meantime, Korean tourism authorities are reframing Okay-beauty as a holistic way of life expertise that goes past slender, conventional concepts of magnificence, selling imaginative and prescient correction and different well being and wellness companies as key pillars of Korea’s world journey model.
At occasions just like the Korea Magnificence Competition, the Korea Tourism Group highlights well being and wellness procedures comparable to imaginative and prescient correction or dental work alongside spa stays, temple meditation and skincare, positioning clearer eyesight as each a practical improve and a confidence-boosting magnificence enhancement.
