The generosity of Chinese tourists has been a key force in promoting the development of tourism in countries around the world.
In the past few years, the world has been severely tested by the epidemic, making tourism the most affected industry, and the development of the tourism industry in various countries has experienced unprecedented difficulties. In the past two years, with the strong return of China's economy and the gradual relaxation of epidemic prevention and control measures, Chinese tourists have begun to go abroad again, which has brought new opportunities and vitality to the recovery of tourism in neighboring countries.
(Chinese tourists visiting South Korea)
In the past few days, the South Korean side has found that although this year is just over half, the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea has surpassed last year's total, reaching 2 million. In the first quarter alone, the number of tourists reached 1.01 million, and according to this trend, the number of Chinese tourists in the second half of the year is expected to set a new record.
In addition, after the South Korean investigation, it was found that 10% of Chinese tourists are holding group tourist visas. Therefore, in order to maintain this good phenomenon, the South Korean side urgently carried out internal rectification, trying to create a better travel experience for Chinese tourists, retain these "big financiers" from China, so that the development of South Korea's tourism industry from the current full, stable to the future.
A few days ago, the Korean Culture and Sports Agency said that it will officially implement the "Business Implementation Guidelines for Travel Agencies Responsible for Attracting Chinese Group Tourists" from July 1, which clearly stipulates that all travel agencies that provide "dumping tourism" products to Chinese tourists will be subject to administrative penalties, and all unreasonable behaviors that force Chinese tourists to consume will be severely cracked down.
At the same time, the Ministry of Culture and Sports also said that every quarter after that, the South Korean side will carry out spot checks on travel agencies specializing in Chinese group tours, and once it is found that the revenue structure in the report provided by them is unreasonable, it will be punished accordingly.
(Signage for Chinese tourists in South Korea)
Regarding this move, the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Sports also said that the purpose is mainly twofold, one is to prevent some travel agencies from smearing the image of South Korea, and the other is to eliminate the so-called "dumping tourism", which brings bad experience to Chinese tourists, and finally allows South Korea's tourism industry to maintain a stable development trend.
In fact, this is not the first time that South Korea has introduced corresponding measures to protect the interests of Chinese tourists.
In May this year, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of South Korea conducted a round of investigation on the tourism products provided by travel agencies, and set up a tourist complaint and reporting center to facilitate Chinese tourists to complain when they are dissatisfied with tourism products.
The Ministry of Culture and Sports refers to the "dumping tourism" mentioned by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, which refers to the fact that some travel agencies deliberately set the price of tourism products very low, or even lower than the cost price, in order to attract customers and seize market share, but in fact, in the process of travel, travel agencies will force tourists to buy high-priced products to achieve profits, which is essentially a kind of fraud.
Under this sales method, in order to make up for the cost pressure brought by low prices, some travel agencies will also reduce the standard and quality of services in catering, accommodation and transportation, which seriously affects the overall travel experience of tourists; For the development of the country's tourism industry, dumping not only distorts market competition and makes it difficult for formally operating tourism enterprises to compete on a fair level, but also damages the brand image of the country's tourism industry, which in turn affects the country's economic development.
There have been many similar phenomena in the Korean tourism industry before. Some travel agencies set up restaurants for Chinese tourists, with very poor ingredients but ridiculously high prices, and the original itinerary did not include shopping spots, but in the process they were forced to spend money by local escorts. In February, Chinese tourists reported a similar situation to South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Sports, and after an investigation, the travel agency was shut down in May.
Therefore, at the critical moment when the tourism industry is ushering in an opportunity for recovery, it is very necessary to rectify similar situations.
(Yoon Suk-yeol and Biden)
In addition, under the leadership of the Yoon Suk-yeol government, South Korea is currently biased towards the United States in the political field, which makes the exchanges between China and South Korea under the pressure of the United States have been affected to a certain extent, and the economic exchanges between the two countries have also decreased a lot.
In this context, only tourism is located in the gray area, which serves the leisure, cultural exchange and economic activities of ordinary people, and is less directly involved in sensitive areas such as so-called "national security", high-tech competition and geopolitics. Therefore, compared with the high-level political and strategic competition between China and the United States, tourism has a relatively independent development space, and it has also become a cause that the South Korean government can vigorously promote its development between China and South Korea.
For South Korea's tourism industry, Chinese tourists are crucial.
First of all, from the perspective of South Korea's domestic economy, the arrival of Chinese tourists has brought direct economic benefits to the country. Their consumption needs are not only limited to shopping, but also include the pursuit of tourist attractions, high-quality hotel accommodation, authentic food and beverage services, and leisure and entertainment projects. This all-round consumption model has injected strong vitality into South Korea's tourism industry, promoted the development and growth of related industrial chains, and also provided a large number of employment opportunities for local residents and improved the living conditions of a part of the population.
Secondly, the large number of Chinese tourists has played a significant role in balancing South Korea's domestic economic development. Jeju Island, for example, has seen rapid economic growth due to the large number of Chinese tourists it has attracted not only its popularity but also the development of other related industries, thus becoming a model for promoting a balanced regional economy.
(Chinese tourists drive the economic development of the Korean region)
In short, maintaining South Korea's image in the minds of Chinese tourists will have a positive impact on the Korean tourism industry. Seizing this opportunity, the Korean tourism industry is indeed expected to achieve a full meal from a full meal.
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