Korea tightens regulations on large Chinese tour groups

A group of Chinese tourists leave Gangjeong port on Jeju island and head to the bus station to sightsee the city on June 26. Yonhap

Author: Lee Hae-rin

Korea will introduce stricter rules to crack down on large Chinese group tours, also known as “dumping tours” because of their low prices, which have been identified as a major source of complaints from tourists, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Sunday.

These types of tours are practices in which travel agencies lure tourists with ridiculously low prices and make money by offering around-the-clock shopping, earning commission from vendors along the way.

The ministry has revised guidelines for travel agencies tasked with attracting Chinese group tourists to take administrative action against violators from Monday, aimed at eliminating cheaper shopping tours.

The ministry will specifically take action against so-called “free tours” where travel agencies do not receive any costs from local Chinese companies, as well as against those who force tourists to make purchases without paying reasonable costs to translators.

The Ministry will review and audit the profit structures reported by travel agencies to see whether they rely excessively on trade fees to make a profit.

In addition, the Korea Association of Travel Agencies, the Korea Association of Duty-Free Shops and duty-free shops will cooperate with the ministry to verify whether travel agencies are complying with the regulations on shopping websites.

This year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Korea is estimated to have exceeded last year’s 2 million from January to June alone. That number accounts for 30 percent of all tourists visiting Korea during that period.

In particular, the percentage of Chinese tourists entering the country on group visas exceeded 10 percent and approached 12 percent, a level comparable to pre-pandemic data in 2019.

The ministry said the regulations on low-cost tours are intended to address tourists’ complaints about, among other things, forced purchasing practices, especially given the rapid recovery of inbound tourism from China.

Earlier this year, the ministry for the first time suspended the activities of travel agencies that attracted Chinese group tourists with unreasonably low prices or based their profit solely on purchase fees.