Korea tightens regulations on large Chinese tour groups

A group of Chinese tourists leave Gangjeong Port on Jeju Island and head to a bus station for a city tour, June 26. Yonhap

Author: Lee Hae-rin

Korea will introduce stricter regulations aimed at eliminating large Chinese group tours, also known as “dumping tours” due to low prices, which have been identified as the main cause of tourists’ complaints, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Sunday.

These types of tours are practices in which travel agencies attract tourists with unreasonably low prices and make money by offering 24-hour shopping, earning commissions from sellers along the way.

The ministry has revised guidelines for travel agencies tasked with attracting Chinese group tourists. They aim to take administrative measures against those who violate the rules, with the aim of eliminating these cheaper package tours that also include shopping. The guidelines are to take effect from Monday.

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 if they are over-relying on merchant fees to generate profits.

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

This year, the number of Chinese visitors to Korea is estimated to have exceeded last year’s figure of 2 million between January and June alone. That number accounts for 30 percent of all tourist arrivals to Korea during that period.

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

The ministry informed that the regulations on cheap trips are aimed at taking into account tourists’ complaints regarding, among others, forced purchasing practices, especially in the context of the rapid recovery of inbound tourism from China.

Earlier this year, the ministry for the first time suspended the operations of travel agencies that attracted Chinese group tourists at unreasonably low prices or relied solely on purchase fees to make a profit.