The National Tax Service said on Wednesday it has teamed up with five-star hotels across the country to boost sales of traditional liquor such as makgeolli.

Sixty-eight hotels agreed to sell traditional liquor in their Japanese and Chinese restaurants as well as Korean restaurants, in addition to providing storytelling booklets on the history of traditional liquors, regions where they are produced and how they are made.

Forty-two hotels in Seoul, Busan and Jeju started traditional liquor sales on Wednesday, with others scheduled to begin next month.

Currently, of the 20 five-star hotels in Seoul, 15 do not have Korean restaurants or sell traditional liquor. Most budget hotels targeting foreign tourists do not sell traditional liquor either.

Sales of traditional liquors at five-star hotels are expected to greatly help raise their brand competitiveness, the NTS said.

The tax agency also said it will allow folk item salespeople to engage in the wholesale of traditional liquor starting Aug. 1 as part of efforts to increase distribution channels.

Given the small trading volume of traditional liquor, there is a lack of wholesalers who can supply it to hotels in a timely manner. Wholesalers of alcoholic beverages are strictly banned from trading other items.

“Increased wholesale trade of traditional liquor would help expand supply to not just upscale hotels but also to department stores and large discount stores,” Lee Jong-ho, head of the NTS corporate taxation department, said.

There are about 400 types of traditional Korean liquor, including wine made of “bokbunja,” a type of black raspberry native to North Jeolla Province.

The alcoholic beverages brewed from regional agricultural produce, or made by masters of traditional foods, are generally priced up to 200,000 won.

Korea’s traditional liquor market has grown as the government cut the tax rate on traditional liquors, eased licensing rules and permitted direct dealings between the producers and consumers.

The number of traditional liquor producers increased from 115 in 2000 to 576 last year, and sales also rose from 19.6 billion won ($17 million) in 2000 to 92.4 billion won in 2005.

But their sales have fallen since 2006, dropping to 41.8 billion won last year as the producers, most of which are small, struggle to compete against large companies’ aggressive marketing of imported wine and beer.

Sales of imported wine climbed from 97.7 billion won in 2006 to 235.8 billion won last year, while sales of imported beer jumped from 25.5 billion won to 179.3 billion won in the same period.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)