Foreign tourists wait in line to enter the duty-free shop of Lotte Department Store in Seoul, South Korea on the morning of August 11, 2023. The previous day, China announced resumption of outbound group tour services to 78 countries and regions, including the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and most European countries, expanding the scope from 60 to 138 countries and regions. Photo: VCG

After the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in August announced the resumption of a third round of outbound group tours, the South Korean tourism industry from officials to business participants has stepped up promotional efforts attracting Chinese tourists.

According to a report by Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday, officials from South Korea's tourism sector have been traveling to China to promote South Korea.

On the same day, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) held a tourism exchange event between the two countries in Beijing. Jang Mi-Ran, an official from South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told the Global Times during the event that China and South Korea have reached a consensus on the importance of expanding people-to-people exchanges and will actively cooperate to promote exchanges.

Jang noted that the number of flights and ferries between South Korea and China is increasing. It is believed that the two countries will likely witness 12.8 million people-to-people exchanges.

Kim Jang-sil, director of the KTO, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the tourism industry in China and South Korea has gone through a very difficult time due to the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted for over three years. 

He said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on the same day that it is important to cooperate with China to promote tourism. Although relations between the two countries fluctuate from time to time, people-to-people exchanges should not be hindered.

According to Kim Jang-sil, South Korea is expected to attract 2 million tourists within the year, and he will continue to promote South Korea to the Chinese tourism industry and consumers.

Seo Young-choong, an official from the KTO, said China was the largest inbound tourism market to South Korea until 2019, and was a core tourism market where per capita spending on travel to South Korea is 38 percent higher than the average spending of all foreigners.

South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on September 4 has released a plan to attract Chinese tourists travelling to South Korea. Up until December 31 this year, South Korea will waive the e-visa processing fee of about 18,000 won ($13.57) for Chinese tourist groups.

Li Jiacheng, a research fellow at the Research Center for the Economies and Politics of Transitional Countries of Liaoning University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that South Korea relies heavily on Chinese tourists, who outnumber tourists from other countries in terms of numbers and purchasing power.

In addition to South Korean officials, a total of 130 South Korean tourism industry representatives from 64 agencies, including travel agencies, hotels and local self-government organizations participated in the event.

Industry participants from South Korea told the Global Times that more than 40 South Korean travel agencies came to China to join the event, showing that the country is very welcoming to Chinese tourists. Cultural and tourism exchanges between China and South Korea are mutual, and many South Koreans are looking forward to traveling to China, they said.

Liu Lei, an official from Korean Air, told the Global Times during the event that South Korean society welcomes Chinese tourists, and the company's business prospects will be more optimistic when overseas tours heat up. 

“Although there is a big challenge to reach pre-pandemic levels, practitioners come to the event with great expectations, and South Korean tour operators cannot afford to miss the business opportunities in China,” he said.

Yang Jinsong, a senior expert with the China Tourism Academy, told the Global Times on Wednesday that if South Korea wants to attract Chinese tourists, the country's destination image and products should be updated in addition to the government's “friendly attitude”.

Li Jiacheng said that Chinese tours to South Korea have changed from "shopping tours" to "experience tours", so South Korean practitioners should change the focus of their services.