South Korea's Hanwha Group, vying for one of two rare duty free licenses up for grabs in Seoul, argues that its gold-toned skyscraper is the perfect draw for Chinese tourists, who have cemented South Korea's place as the world's duty free capital. Rival bidder Shinsegae vows to turn its downtown department store, an 85-year-old landmark, into a giant duty free emporium, as the biggest players in South Korean retail battle for rights which some of them estimate could generate as much as 2 trillion won ($1.84 billion) in annual revenue each. In all, seven South Korean retail groups are on the hunt for the first two new licences for major companies to operate duty free shops in downtown Seoul in 15 years. While most bidders are relatively new to duty free and stand to miss a prime opportunity if unsuccessful, the stakes are highest for Samsung Group unit Hotel Shilla, analysts said. "Considering Shilla's request to expand their current Seoul duty free location hasn't been approved for several years, Shilla might feel a stronger need for a new licence than its competitors," Yuanta Securities Korea analyst Park Sung-ho said. An influx of Chinese tourists has made duty free a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy South Korean retail industry squeezed by a sluggish economy and the rise of online shopping. While department store sales shrank 1.6 percent in 2014, duty free sales have doubled since 2010, to $7.9 billion last year. Chinese tourists accounted for about 70 percent of South Korean downtown duty free spending last year, up from around 15 percent in 2011, according to Lotte Shopping's Lotte Duty Free, the world's No.4 operator. But competition is intensifying, with a weak yen luring Chinese tourists to Japan, and the world's largest duty free shop opening last year on China's Hainan island. In response, South Korean authorities have staged an all-out contest for the two new Seoul licences, with bid submissions due June 1 and winners, to be judged using a 1,000-point scoring system, to be announced as early as July. Hotel Shilla, the No.6 global player, and Hyundai Development Co Engineering & Construction, have teamed up to propose the country's biggest duty free shop, within a train station, with parking for 100 tour buses. Hyundai Department Store has offered its department store in the high-end Gangnam area, its biggest money-maker. It has also joined with smaller firms, a strategy which could score it points. SK Group, the country's third-biggest conglomerate, has proposed Dongdaemun, Seoul's clothing manufacturing hub and another hot shopping spot, for its site. Lotte, which has three downtown Seoul duty free stores, and clothing-and-retail company E-Land Group, are also mulling separate bids.