Seoul, Apr 4 (IANS): Annual sales of South Korean duty-free retailers dropped 28.3 per cent over the past four years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and prolonged diplomatic tensions with China, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

Combined annual sales from local duty-free retailers came to 17.81 trillion won ($13 billion) last year from 24.85 trillion won in 2019, Koh Yong-jin, a lawmaker of the opposition Democratic Party said, citing data from the Korea Customs Service.

Sales of industry leader Hotel Lotte Co.'s duty-free unit fell by some 43 per cent from 9.3 trillion won in 2019 to 5.3 trillion won in 2022, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Similarly, the figure from Hotel Shilla Co. dipped 32.3 per cent over the same period.

Shinsegae DF also showed a downward trend, with annual sales falling 17.8 per cent in the past three years, he said.

Local companies were also overtaken by other global travel retailers.

Lotte Duty Free lost its No. 2 spot to Swiss-based Dufry AG in annual turnover last year, data from global travel retail magazine The Moodie Davitt Report showed.

China Duty Free Group Co. has maintained first place since 2019.

In response, South Korean travel retailers plan to reduce the commission paid to travel agencies in return for recruiting Chinese resellers, which has once soared over 40 per cent since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some have vowed to lower their reliance on Chinese resellers.

Lotte Duty Free has said it will focus resources on its inner-city stores and online sales channels this year.