Chinese tourists avoid Winter Olympic Games
Spat over THAAD deployment turned off visitors to South Korea: experts
As fewer Chinese tourists have planned to travel to watch the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, the South Korean government may not be able to make back its budget for the upcoming sports event and the country’ s tourism industry may suffer, experts said on Sunday.
Since tickets for the Pyeongchang 2018 Games went on sale in February, “Chinese sports fans’ enthusiasm for the Games remained muted and the tickets sales in China have been sluggish,” Lü Chao, a researcher with the Liaoning Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday. The 2018 Winter Olympic Games are scheduled to run from February 9 – 25, 2018.
Lü noted that the scenario comes after the South Korea’s deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense ( THAAD) missile defense system, which triggered strong opposition from the Chinese public.
A Shanghai- based sport fan surnamed Li who fl ew to watch the 2016 Rio Olympic Games said that he would not attend the 2018 Olympic Games despite a much shorter travel time.
“Amid increasing boycotts from China toward South Korean brands in the wake of THAAD, some South Korean media reports also said that Chinese citizens had better not come to the global sports event, so why would I [ travel to the country]?” he told the Global Times on Sunday.
Besides, Wang said that he is also not sure about how many Chinese players would participate in the Winter Olympics.
The Pyeongchang Organizing Committee had not responded to an interview request by the Global Times as of press time.
But AFP in May quoted an of-
“Due to the lack of interest among locals in attending the event, the South Korean government has pinned its hopes on attendance from neighboring countries, mostly China, to ensure the grandstands are full." Lü Chao, a researcher with the Liaoning Provincial Academy of Social Sciences
fi cial from the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee as saying that during the first phase of sales, which opened in February last year and closed in April, organizers had only received 385,000 applications, significantly lower than the anticipated target of 600,000 tickets sales.
And as of the end of April, only 162,000 tickets were allocated “domestically.” The number accounts for 27 percent of the 600,000 target, said the report.
“Due to the lack of interest among locals in attending the event, the South Korean government has pinned their hopes on attendance from neighboring countries, mostly China, to ensure the grandstands are full and budget can be recovered,” Lü said.
The budget for building facilities for the 2018 Winter Olympics has ramped up pressure on the South Korean government. Initially, the budget came in at roughly $ 12.6 billion, but the operation budget has surged about half a billion dollars so far, USA Today reported in June.
The budget has prompted concerns among the South Korean public about whether the benefi ts brought by the event are worth the cost amid the country’s slowing economy, experts said.
“Obviously, one of the benefi ts that South Korea cannot reap is a boost to the local tourism industry. Tourists from China used to be a major source,” Liang Qidong, vice president of the Liaoning Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday, noting that the sports event takes place in February, a time when China’s Spring Festival holiday falls and Chi- nese consumers’ demand for outbound travel surges.
Lü agreed. “China is home to one of the world’s largest groups of fans for winter sports, and losing the favor of Chinese fans would strain South Korea’s huge investment.”
Chinese travelers generally stay for up to dozens of days and spend an average of 15,000 yuan a trip, Lü added.
As the Winter Olympic Games loom, the South Korean government has beefed up eff orts to attract Chinese citizens.
For example, the Gangwon- do government announced on June 19 that Chinese tourists who have purchased a ticket for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games are allowed to enter South Korea without a pre- granted visa, chinanews. com reported.