Country Mulls Permanent Visa-free Entry for Chinese Tourists

  

Source: OT-Team(G), BusinessKorea

The South Korean government is considering extending the visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists indefinitely, which was originally planned to be applied temporarily until the end of this year. 

The plan is to jumpstart domestic consumption recovery through accommodation and other sectors by attracting Chinese tourists.

According to related ministries on July 2, the government plans to announce an implementation plan for visa-free entry of Chinese group tourists soon, jointly prepared by the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Economy and Finance, and other relevant ministries. The government had previously stated it would implement visa-free entry in the third quarter, but did not specify an exact date. The government is also pushing to transition this measure into a permanent policy from next year, after implementing it until the end of this year.

Additionally, the government has decided to extend the temporary exemption period for the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) by another year, which was scheduled to end in December this year, to boost tourist attraction. This plan to attract foreign tourists to Korea is expected to be included in the new government's economic policy direction to be announced at the end of July. Experts who attended the meeting reportedly conveyed the opinion that attracting Chinese tourists is necessary to boost the growth rate in the second half of the year.

A government official said, "We are also reviewing the expansion of visa waivers to include individual Chinese tourists as a mid to long-term task."