While South Korea and China have increased economic and geopolitical disagreements in recent months, Beijing and Seoul have exchanged gestures of appeasement in the tourism sector. China has lifted its ban on group visits to South Korea and South Korean authorities have unveiled a plan to attract more than 1.5 million Chinese by the end of the year.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Seoul, Nicholas Rocca
In Seoul, the Ministry of Tourism is ready to do almost anything to ensure the return of Chinese tourists to South Korea. Before the pandemic, they were nearly 5 million coming every year. But the Covid-19 and the decision taken by beijing to ban group visits to the country in 2017, have drastically reduced this figure. This measure was a response to the installation of the American anti-missile defense system THAAD in South Korea, but it was lifted three weeks ago.
From now on, Seoul wants to surf on the opportunity. While last week, for the first time in six years, a Chinese cruise ship visited the very touristic island of Jeju, in the south of the country, the South Korean government is pulling out all the stops with the opening new visa centres, increased flight connections, refund of VAT or visa fees for group visits.
South Korea is also planning new adapted tourist programs or the development of payment methods such as Wechat pay or Alipay, which is widely used in China.
A seduction operation supposed to bring the total of Chinese tourists to 2 million for the year 2023 and to increase the GDP by 0.16 points. The question now is how the South Korean population will react as anti-China sentiment has been on the rise in recent years.
Read alsoWith Japan and South Korea, Joe Biden sends a message of unity against China