China partly lifts ban on group tour to S. Korea

SEOUL/BEIJING: China will allow travel agencies in Beijing and Shandong to partly resume sales of group tours to South Korea, in a sign of thawing relations between the nations that have been locked in a year-long diplomatic standoff.

However, executives from tour agencies in the regions said they had been told not to include in their travel packages units of South Korean retail-to-chemicals giant Lotte Group — which provided land for the installation of a United States-backed anti-missile system that Beijing vehemently opposed.

China had banned all group tours to the neighbouring country since March in the wake of South Korea’s decision to install the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD). Beijing worries the THAAD’s powerful radar can penetrate Chinese territory.

In South Korea, a halving of inbound Chinese tourists in the first nine months of the year cost the economy US$6.5 billion in lost revenue based on the average spending of Chinese visitors in 2016, official data shows.

But a late October agreement between the countries to move past the dispute had boosted hopes group tours may be allowed in the near future.

China National Tourism Administration will allow resumption of only over-the-counter sales of package tours from Beijing and Shandong to South Korea, Park Yong-hwan, deputy director at Korea Tourism Organisation, and executives at Chinese travel agencies said yesterday.

Online sales of package tours, and chartering flights or cruise trips are still banned, Park said.

According to the executives at travel agencies, restrictions on including Lotte Group units, such as Lotte Duty Free, in tour packages also remain. The executives declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. Reuters