Sales at South Korea's duty-free stores nearly doubled in June from a year ago thanks to a rising influx of Chinese travelers and last year's low base in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, data showed Monday.

Sales at duty-free stores nationwide jumped 94.1 percent in June from a year ago, surging for the ninth consecutive month, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. 


The June sales marked a sharp yearly growth because the market was hit hard by the fallout from the MERS outbreak in May 2015 when duty-free revenue plummeted 21.8 percent from a year earlier.

The rising number of foreign travelers also helped boost duty-free revenue.

The number of inbound travelers more than doubled to 1.55 million in June, with those from China soaring 140.7 percent on-year to account for nearly half of the total, according to the state tourism data. (Yonhap)