Hwang Gak-kyu, Lotte Group president in charge of policy matters, visited the main office of Jinjiang Group in Shanghai on the same day and met the group's vice president Shao Xiaoming and Shanghai China Travel International president Chang Dingyu to discuss ways to expand visits by Chinese travelers. The two parties agreed that they would work together to promote tourism and other related service sectors in China and Korea.
First of all, the two parties talked about ways to increase visits to Korea by Chinese tourists by leveraging Jinjiang's network in Shanghai, the city from which more than 40 percent of Chinese tourists depart to Korea. They also discussed ways to expand the partnership by taking advantage of Lotte Group's tourism assets in Korea. Mr. Hwang also requested to his Chinese counterparts to make investment in Korea.
Jinjiang Group currently is an equity partner to Chinese operations of KFC and Yoshinoya and is interested in investing in Lotteria (fast food chain) and Angelinus (coffee shop chain) as well. Mr. Hwang said, "I asked them to stress Korea's shopping, cultural assets, and leisure opportunities when they promote Korean tourism. If we can combine capacities of both companies, I expect more synergies to emerge from the partnership." Jinjiang Group runs Asia's largest hotel chain, Shanghai's largest travel agency, rental car company, and a theme park.
