Chinese Embassy in South Korea: Suspension of issuance of short-term visas for South Korean citizens to China

According to domestic instructions, from now on, the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in South Korea will suspend the issuance of short-term visas for South Korean citizens to visit China, for business, tourism, medical treatment, transit and general private matters.

The above measures will be adjusted based on the lifting of South Korea’s discriminatory entry restrictions against China.

Chinese Embassy in South Korea

January 10, 2023

Notice screenshot

Extended reading:

Media: Chinese people going to South Korea are required to "hang a yellow card" and the isolation point has only the floor to sleep on

Japan and South Korea have similar anti-epidemic policies against China, but the rabbit's tail will not grow!

Article|Haike

It is no exaggeration to say that Chinese tourists will drive the global tourism industry into a new year of 2023.

The COVID-19 epidemic in the past three years has caused unprecedented challenges to the global tourism industry, including the air transportation industry, hotel and catering industry, etc. In fact, there are indeed some countries where such industries have had to temporarily transform.

Thailand Deputy Prime Minister Anutin spoke at Bangkok Airport, welcoming Chinese tourists Photo: Beijing News Network

As China's epidemic prevention policy against new coronavirus infection changes to "Category B and B" "Since January 8, 2023, the "Notice on Temporary Measures for the Movement of Chinese and Foreign Personnel" has been officially implemented. There are two main points -

First, the nucleic acid test for all incoming personnel will no longer be implemented Testing;

The second is to resume outbound travel by Chinese citizens in an orderly manner.

At 13:17 local time on January 9, as Xiamen Airlines flight MF833 landed at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, 269 passengers landed smoothly. This is the first batch of Chinese tourists to go to Thailand after the "B Category B". Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Anutin, Thailand's Minister of Transport Chichobu, and Minister of Tourism and Sports Pippa went to the airport to pick up the plane and welcomed Chinese tourists to Thailand.

But at the same time, Uncle Hai also saw that countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Morocco have developed some policies to target China's "Class B Class B". It’s clear that Chinese tourists are not very welcome at this stage

01

What do you think of Thailand’s actions?

It can be safely said that after China’s “Class B B pipe”, Thailand is the “first to eat crabs”. This is a vote of confidence in the Chinese government's anti-epidemic measures - the anti-epidemic measures over the past three years until now.

On January 4, local time, Anutin responded to the Thai media that there is no need to discriminate against Chinese tourists. Picture: Bangkok Post

Announcement of "Class B and B Pipe" policy in China , which mentioned "the orderly resumption of outbound travel by Chinese citizens", the Thai media keenly captured this information. On January 4, local time, the Bangkok Post conducted an exclusive interview with Anutin. Anutin revealed that Thailand will not take discriminatory measures against tourists departing from China and will treat them equally. At the time, Anutin mentioned that “the only requirement is to provide proof of full vaccination.”

Anutin also disclosed that at the government work meeting held on January 4, it was discussed how Thailand should respond to Chinese tourists traveling to Thailand after January 8.

In Uncle Hai’s view, Thailand’s policies for Chinese tourists are relatively appropriate at present -

On the one hand, they express welcome, and the health, transportation, and tourism exports The ministers in charge, led by the deputy prime minister, came to welcome ordinary tourists. The row of noodles was really quite big.

On the other hand, it has also made arrangements for the plans for Chinese tourists. This is very important. After all, China has just implemented the "Category B and B Control", and as far as the epidemic situation in some places is concerned, it has just passed the peak of Omicron variant virus infection. At this time, it may not be appropriate if there is no plan at all.

At the welcome ceremony for Chinese tourists on January 9, Anutin revealed the latest policy -

It will no longer require inbound travelers from various countries to provide vaccination certificates.

It can be seen that Thailand has the latest research and judgment and has made the latest policy adjustments.

"Thailand Minister will welcome the first batch of Chinese tourists on Monday" Picture: screenshot of ThaiPBSWorld report

Now, the Thai media has announced such a set of figures——

In the first quarter of this year, 338 flights from China are expected to arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport, including 98 flights in January, 144 flights in February and 96 flights in March.

At Chiang Mai International Airport, 200 flights from China will arrive in the first quarter of this year, including 42 flights in January, 84 flights in February and 74 flights in March. The first direct flight from China to Chiang Mai Airport is expected to arrive on March 15.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand in January 2023 is expected to reach 50,000; in March, this number will increase to 90,000.

02

On the other hand, Uncle Hai found that Japan, South Korea and other tourist destinations that were favored by Chinese tourists before the epidemic had a different situation.

Take Japan as an example -

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a press conference in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, Japan on January 4, saying that he would strengthen the prevention and control measures from January 8. New coronavirus port management for Chinese immigrants.

The Japanese government has previously announced that starting from December 30, 2022, travelers with a history of residence in China within 7 days will be tested on arrival when entering Japan. If they are tested positive, they will in principle be tested. 7 days quarantine. The new regulations that came into effect on January 8 have more stringent requirements, that is, nucleic acid testing or quantitative antigen testing must be performed upon entry.

On January 5, 2023 local time, "Passengers from China" signs were written in Chinese, English and Korean at the entry gate of Incheon International Airport

And South Korea has also begun to Arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau will be treated differently. In other words, special queuing channels are divided for nucleic acid testing. In Uncle Hai’s view, if South Korea had this provision alone, it would be wrong.

On January 5, at the COVID-19 Testing Center at Incheon International Airport, people arriving from China were preparing to be tested. Picture of the yellow logo worn by the passengers: Yonhap News Agency

Some people who entered South Korea reported to Uncle Hai that they were watched by military police at the airport, and some Koreans watched them as if they were prisoners.

Looking back, before January 8, when China implemented isolation and control measures for inbound flight passengers, was there anyone watching? Totally impossible! What's more, even Yonhap News Agency disclosed that the positive rate of passengers arriving in South Korea from China on January 7 was 14.8%! This positivity rate is not higher than the positivity rate of Americans who have immigrated to South Korea, for example, right? Because China and South Korea are adjacent and China has a large population, it is not incomprehensible that South Korea has taken certain epidemic prevention and testing measures. But is it doing this just to prevent the epidemic, or is it following the United States and Japan and trying to squeeze China? Some friends said that South Korea's current anti-epidemic measures against China, especially the "yellow card", have a Nazi tone. I wonder how South Korea feels about this?

03

Of course, there are also countries such as Morocco that have to show off to China on epidemic prevention issues. I believe that as time goes by, most of these countries with a strong "performance desire" will adjust their policies according to the current situation. Why did Uncle Hai have this prediction?

Obviously, no one can struggle with economic growth!

A friend in Germany told me that before the epidemic, some large and medium-sized cities such as Frankfurt had already formed an industrial chain targeting Chinese tourists. However, as the tourism market situation changes after the epidemic, some people in Germany doing tourism business with China have changed their careers. Taking the Chinese-operated industry in Germany as an example, Chinese restaurants that originally catered for group meals were converted into spicy hotpot restaurants, mainly to maintain operations and do business with local Chinese. There are also some friends who used to take tour groups but are now working in the logistics industry. "I know that they may not be able to come back. After all, they have joined a new industry and have a fairly stable income. But they will also think back to the 'glorious' time of China's tourism industry, after all, the money came in faster than in logistics today. Some." said a friend in Germany.

You must know that Germany is still a developed country with a high proportion of manufacturing industry in the economy. For some countries that rely on the tertiary industry for survival, such as Thailand, the early return of Chinese tourists is of course the best shot in the arm to restore market confidence. Isn’t this also true for Japan and South Korea? Think about the situation before the epidemic when various cruise ships and flights entered Japan and South Korea. At that time, tourism industry operators sang and greeted each other.

Now that these governments have introduced policies targeting China, their domestic tourism industry practitioners are the first to oppose them.

Japan’s current policy for Chinese tourists does not receive support from practitioners in the Japanese tourism industry. Picture: Japanese media screenshot

Shi Sakurai, manager of the hotel industry market research company STR in the United States. Ori said: "With the absence of Chinese tourists, the recovery and growth of domestic travel demand in Japan may be slower than now."

"What they want most are Chinese tourists, but Japan's domestic policies have really made it difficult for them to do so." People are worried." A staff member of a large travel agency in Northeast Japan complained. From this, we can actually see that Japan and South Korea have similar anti-epidemic policies towards China, but the tail of a rabbit will never grow!

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