OSAKA -- South Korea's Lotte Group and airport operator Kansai Airports have canceled plans to open an airport-style duty-free shop in Osaka this spring, as foreign tourists in Japan wind down their high-end shopping sprees.

Such shops are exempt not only from the consumption tax, but also liquor and tobacco taxes. Japanese citizens leaving the country can also use the stores, picking up purchases at certain airports after clearing departure proceedings.

The South Korean conglomerate announced plans for the shop with Kansai Airports's predecessor, New Kansai International Airport Company, in February 2016. Kansai Airports took up operating rights for New Kansai's airports last spring.

The shop would have opened in a Bic Camera store in a tourist-frequented area around Nankai Electric Railway's Namba station, which directly serves Kansai International Airport. Its 4,400-sq.-meter sales floor would have offered clothing, bags, cosmetics, and other luxury brand products. The operators had forecast sales of 13 billion yen ($113 million) in the store's first year.

Companies such as Lotte and department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings opened similar duty-free shops in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district in 2016, as foreign tourists surged and bought large quantities of big-ticket goods. But the sprees appear to be ebbing.

(Nikkei)