China tourists decrease. Has South Korea's tourism been hit hard?

Since South Korea decided to deploy "Sade", South Korea's tourism industry has ushered in a "cold winter". According to Yonhap News Agency, since March this year, the number of tourists received by South Korea has dropped sharply. Last year, among the170,000 foreign tourists visiting southern China, Korean tourists accounted for nearly half.

According to recent media reports, this year, South Korea's tourism revenue and expenditure deficit reached 8.668 billion US dollars, a record high. The main reason for the deficit is the decreasing number of foreign tourists to Korea, but the number of Koreans traveling abroad has increased significantly year-on-year.

According to the data 165438 released by the Korea Tourism Development Board1October 20th, the number of foreign tourists to Korea from June to August this year was about 886.4 1 10,000, a year-on-year decrease of 22.8% and a decrease of 23.6% in tourism revenue. Among them, the decrease of tourists from China is particularly obvious.

From June 5438 to August, the number of tourists to South China was about 2,873,500, a year-on-year decrease of 48.8%. Especially from March to August, the number of tourists from China decreased by 62.2%.

At the same time, the number of Koreans traveling abroad is about17,395,500, up by 17.7% year-on-year, which is twice as much as that of foreign tourists visiting Korea, while the tourism expenditure increases by 14.7%.

The industry predicts that if the negative situation continues until the end of the year, South Korea's tourism revenue and expenditure deficit will reach $6543.8+$03.673 billion this year.

With the warming of Sino-Korean relations, the South Korean government introduced visa-free entry preferential measures for Korean citizens on the eve of the 20 18 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The Korean Ministry of Justice announced at the end of last month that,

During the period from 65438+ in February this year to 3 1 next year, that is, before and after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang, Korean citizens who have no criminal record and meet certain conditions will be granted a visa-free entry policy of 15 days.

The visa-free targets include China citizens who have applied for personal visas and entered and exited South Korea normally in the last five years, China tourists who hold more than 200,000 won (about RMB 1.200 yuan) for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and go through relevant formalities through designated travel agencies, and China citizens who hold ordinary official passports.