Chinese tourists are not returning to Korea after pandemic amid weak yen, data shows

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Chinese tourists are not returning to Korea after pandemic amid weak yen, data shows

Published: 27 Nov. 2023, 09:54

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Tourists roam the streets at Bukchon Hanok Village in central Seoul. [BAEK JONG-HYUN]

The monthly average of Chinese travelers visiting Korea this year remained far below pre-pandemic levels despite China's lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions and group tours having resumed.

On average, around 144,000 Chinese nationals visited Korea per month this year, according to the data released by the Hyundai Research Institute on Sunday.

The tally was about one-third of the monthly average of 416,000 recorded from 2017 to 2019 when the Chinese government had banned group tours to Korea amid a bilateral rift over the deployment of the U.S. defense shield, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, to the country.

In 2017, China began to scrap its ban, starting with some regions, but the group tours were suspended once again due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. They resumed this August.

The Hyundai Research Institute attributed the sluggish recovery in Chinese travelers to the country to the slower-than-expected rebound of Chinese consumers' economic sentiment.

The institute also said Chinese people's traveling preferences have changed, with an inclination for group tours to Korea going down and demand for travel to Japan going up amid a weak yen.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]