South Korea will extend the suspension of short-term visas for Korean citizens to Korea until February 28.

Cailian 65438+1October 27th, the Korean Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said on the 27th that it would extend the measures to suspend the issuance of short-term visas to China citizens until February 28th, but it may restart the issuance of short-term visas as appropriate.

Airport short-term visa inspection location Image source: Red Star News

At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 65438+1October 65438+June 6, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that China has always believed that epidemic prevention measures in various countries should be scientific and appropriate, and should not affect normal personnel exchanges and cooperation between countries, adopt discriminatory practices, and take the opportunity to engage in political manipulation. "We hope that the countries concerned will lift the discriminatory restrictive measures against China as soon as possible with a scientific attitude and in the spirit of mutual respect, and make joint efforts with China to resume normal personnel exchanges and exchanges and cooperation." Wang Wenbin said.

Extended reading

How important are Japanese tourists to the tourism industry of China and South Korea?

The first lunar new year after the adjustment of epidemic management measures in China is coming to an end. Compared with the fiery Southeast Asian tourism, China and South Korea, the traditional popular destinations for outbound travel favored by Japanese tourists before the epidemic, failed to wait for the influx of tourists from China.

"In the streets of Ginza, Sensoji Temple and other popular spots in the Spring Festival in previous years, China tourists are rarely seen." Japanese student Xiao Wang told CBN through social media.

1 Since then, the governments of South China and Japan have successively increased the entry restrictions on Japanese tourists and implemented discriminatory measures. This move is undoubtedly worse for the Japanese and Korean tourism market, which has been struggling for several years. Since then, based on diplomatic reciprocal measures, the Embassy of China in South Korea and the Embassy in Japan have successively announced that starting from 65438+ 10/0, China will suspend the issuance of short-term visas for Korean and Japanese citizens to come to China for personal reasons. When to resume, further notice is needed.

65438120, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued a notice on the pilot resumption of travel agencies to operate outbound group tours for China citizens to relevant countries. Japan and South Korea are not among the first 20 countries. Earlier, the Japan Tourism Association told CBN that only when China's group tour recovers can Japan's tourism industry reap real benefits.

Loss geometry?

How important are Japanese tourists to the tourism industry of China and South Korea? Take the tourism data before the epidemic in 20 19, which is most valued by Japan Tourism Bureau, as an example. The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in that year was 3 1882 10000, of which 16775600 came from China, accounting for 52.6% of all foreigners visiting Japan. In terms of consumption, Japanese tourists ranked first in that year, accounting for 36.8% of the total consumption of foreigners visiting Chinese mainland.

The same is true of South Korea. 20 19 south Korea relaxes multi-group visa conditions for China. According to the statistics of Korea Tourism Organization, the number of tourists to South China reached a record high of nearly 6 million, an increase of nearly 30% compared with 20 18.

However, since the outbreak of the epidemic, the number of foreign tourists from China and South Korea, including Japanese tourists, has dropped sharply, and the tourism industry of the two countries has been "frozen" immediately.

According to Korean media reports last week, a 27-year-old shopping mall in downtown Seoul, South Korea has announced that it will close this year. This mall, named Outlet“W Shopping Center ",is one of the most representative shopping centers in Kasandong business district in Seoul. Before 2020, accommodation for group tours in China is often arranged in this area, and many individual tourists and "daigou" from China come to spend money. According to statistics, the consumption of China tourists accounts for 30% to 40% of the sales share of this shopping center. However, after the outbreak of the epidemic, the proportion of tourists spending in China dropped sharply. Finally, the mall announced that it would close in September this year.

The architectural appearance of the "W Shopping Center" recently photographed by the reporter of Korea Economy. Source: Korean Economy

Xiao Hao, a Korean student, told CBN that after China was fully liberalized, I heard that many Korean travel agencies were already preparing for China tourists, such as recruiting concentrated Chinese tour guides again, and businesses began to practice Chinese again. "But the Korean government's restrictions on China tourists, even the' blockade' policy, have undoubtedly poured cold water on these tourists." Korean media also mentioned that South China did not squeeze into the top ten popular destinations this time when its outbound travel reached its peak.

Xiao Wang even told reporters that when walking in the streets of Tokyo recently, some uninformed Japanese vendors specifically asked why they didn't see a large number of China tourists during the Spring Festival this year.

According to Hiroshi Naghama, an expert from the First Institute of Life Economics, a Japanese think tank, the economic losses caused by the Japanese government's restrictive policies are estimated to be about 654.38+03.4 billion yen per month.

Japanese people are looking forward to welcoming tourists from China during the cherry blossom season.

A few days ago, the Governor of Jeju Road, South Korea, Wu Lianxun publicly expressed his sincere welcome to China tourists for an early visit. He hoped that the South Korean government would negotiate with China in a friendly way to solve the current immigration and epidemic prevention policies as soon as possible, and looked forward to the early reopening of air routes between China and Jeju.

A person in the Japanese tourism industry who asked not to be named told CBN that in fact, almost no one in the Japanese tourism industry regards China tourists as a dangerous group. "What I want most is China guests, but domestic policies are really worrying."

The first financial reporter inquired about the website of the Japanese Embassy in China, and the latest notice about the visa business still stayed at 5438+ 10 last June. At the beginning of June 5438+ 10 this year, embassies and consulates in China of Japan indicated through the visa agency that it began to accept and issue tourist visas to Japan. But at that time, it was limited to applying for a five-year multiple-entry tourist visa.

Chen Youjun, a professor at Shanghai Institute of International Studies, told CBN that the foundation of economic exchanges between China and Japan is still there, and many people of insight are looking forward to the expansion of economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, which I believe will be improved in the future.

In addition, it is worth noting that according to Japanese media reports, at the meeting of the Subcommittee on Infectious Diseases of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on June 23, 65438, most of the experts attending the meeting supported the reduction of the level of novel coronavirus in the Infectious Diseases Law from Category 2 to Category 5. The final opinion will be determined on June 27, 65438, and the transition schedule will be determined as early as this week.

"I missed the Spring Festival and especially look forward to the cherry blossom season. I hope to welcome China tourists in this year's cherry blossom season." The above-mentioned Japanese tourism industry said. According to the latest forecast of Japan Meteorological Agency, the cherry blossom season in Japan will start around March 20th in 2023.