Hotel Shilla, an affiliate of Samsung Group, said Tuesday it plans to open a duty-free shop in downtown Bangkok, speeding up efforts to expand its overseas presence.

The company said the duty-free shop, which will open within this year, comes after Hotel Shilla first established a joint venture named GMS Duty Free with a Thai firm in 2013. The South Korean retailer holds a 25-percent stake in this venture. 

Hotel Shilla said the opening date for the new shop has yet to be decided.

Industry watchers said the new duty-free shop will market various South Korean cosmetics brands to meet demand that has been created by the popularity of the hallyu wave in many Asian countries.

Hotel Shilla added that its duty-free shop at Singapore Changi Airport will also post improved earnings starting from 2016. The duty-free shop posted an operating loss of 60.1 billion won ($48.6 million) last year, worsening from 39.2 billion won reported in 2014.

An official company source said the losses were mostly due to a smaller number of visitors traveling to Southeast Asia after a Malaysia Airlines B777 passenger plane went missing in 2014.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)