Shilla bid ₩8,987 per passenger for Incheon duty-free — then paid ₩190B to walk away

In Incheon Airport's 2022 duty-free tender, Hotel Shilla bid ₩8,987 per passenger — over 160% of the minimum acceptable price, in a heated auction where China Duty Free Group was expected to enter — and won DF1, the cosmetics, perfume, liquor and tobacco zone, for ten years, 2023 to 2033.

The rent moved with passenger counts; the sales did not. Post-pandemic travellers came back but bought at city shops and online instead, and per-passenger rent billed every traveller whether they bought anything or not. DF1 lost ₩6B–8B a month — ₩69.7B in 2024 alone — and Shilla's travel-retail division posted operating losses of ₩75.7B in 2024 and ₩53.1B in 2025, against an estimated ₩1.8 trillion of cumulative rent for 2023–2025.

In September 2025 Hotel Shilla decided to return the concession, judging its value as a going concern lower than the cost of leaving; DF1 operations ended on 16 April 2026 and Lotte Duty Free moved into the zone the next day. The exit forfeited roughly ₩190B in deposit and penalties — and around June 2026 Shilla filed a claim of over ₩100B against the airport corporation, arguing the penalty was calculated on an excessively estimated rent structure. In Q2 2026, freed of the zone, Hotel Shilla's operating profit jumped 606% year on year to ₩61.1B.