SEOUL – The government of South Korea has announced to offer visa exemption to visitors from China to boost tourism.
Though the announcement came on Thursday, the exemption would be offered to the Chinese in the third quarter of the year ahead of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit later in 2025.
“We will introduce in the third quarter a temporary visa waiver for group tourists from China to speed up the recovery in the number of Chinese visitors,” said Choi Sang-mok, South Korea’s acting president.
The decision comes months after China extended visa-free entry to nationals from South Korea and other Asian and European countries, the results of which are very encouraging for the authorities.
As far as the numbers are concerned, last year, 16.4 million tourists visited South Korea, up 48% from a year earlier and compared with 17.5 million in 2019 prior to the onslaught of pandemic. Interestingly, Chinese were the biggest chunk accounting for 28%, according to government data and the government aims to ramp up figures using the leverage of culture and arts.
South Korea has been gaining global attraction due to popular culture ranging from K-pop music to fashion. The universities of the country are also attracting students from different regions. Some of the top universities of the country include Seoul National University (SNU), Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) and YONSEI University.
