April 26, 2024

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GS Home Shopping, a leading home shopping channel operator here, said May 26 that it has invested $1.2 million in Luxstay, a Vietnamese home-sharing platform that targets the Southeast Asian market.

The deal marks GS Home Shopping’s second such investment in an e-commerce startup based in Vietnam.

In January this year, the South Korean company invested $3 million in another e-commerce venture firm, Leflair, which focuses on premium-branded products for women, men, children and homes.

Vietnam, one of the fastest-growing countries in the travel industry, is a destination favored by Korean tourists for its low costs and diverse attractions.

The quarterly figure for Korean tourists visiting Vietnam soared more than 24 percent in the first three months of this year, exceeding the 1 million mark for the first time, industry data showed.

Given the current pace of growth, the annual figure is widely estimated to exceed 4 million for this year.

After topping the 1 million level for the first time in 2015, the annual number of Korean tourists to Vietnam rose to 2.42 million in 2017 and 3.44 million last year.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)