Lotte Hotel kimchi lands at Gimpo, Incheon airport duty-free shops

Lotte Hotels & Resorts is accelerating its push into global markets, starting with the launch of Lotte Hotel kimchi at Lotte Duty Free outlets in Gimpo and Incheon airports.

The company said Monday the airport duty-free listings are part of a strategy to expand its global sales network by leveraging distribution channels within the conglomerate. The aim is to raise brand awareness through airport duty-free outlets, which offer high exposure to international tourists.

Seven products are available in total, designed with portability and convenience in mind for travelers: two mini kimchi bundle packs (80g, 10 pieces each — mat kimchi and stir-fried kimchi), four container varieties (650g — mat kimchi, white kimchi, yeolmu kimchi and kkakdugi), and a pouch-style baechu kimchi (1.2kg).

Lotte Hotel kimchi was developed drawing on more than 40 years of expertise from Mugunghwa, the hansik restaurant at Lotte Hotel Seoul. It uses domestically grown produce, including cabbage and red pepper powder, and gets its rich umami flavor from a broth made with dried pollack, shrimp, shiitake mushrooms and kelp, finished with premium salted fermented pork.

All seven varieties are available at the Lotte Duty Free store near Gate 35 on the third floor of the international terminal at Gimpo Airport. The line is also set to arrive at the Lotte Duty Free outlet in Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport in August.

"Following our pop-up store in Tokyo, we are now entering domestic airport duty-free channels, steadily expanding our touchpoints with global customers," a Lotte Hotels & Resorts official said.