Alipay banners are displayed in central Seoul's Myeong-dong, Friday, in cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization. Korea Times photo by Alice Li
HONG KONG/SEOUL— For his family’s first overseas trip together, Tang Junjie carefully planned a holiday in Japan during China’s longest Lunar New Year break on record.
Flights were booked months in advance by the 22-year-old from Sichuan province, who had already made three solo visits to the nearby country that has long been a draw for Chinese tourists.
But a sudden deterioration in Sino-Japanese relations changed everything.
“The original plan was to transit through Seoul on our way to Japan,” Tang said. “But the airline couldn’t refund the tickets at the time, so we decided to stay in Seoul and not continue on to Japan.”
Tang and his family were among the influx of Chinese tourists who visited Korea during the holiday period, which began on Feb. 15 and ended on Monday.
Beijing and Tokyo have been embroiled in a diplomatic dispute since November, when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that Tokyo could respond militarily to a potential attack on Taiwan. In response, Beijing has advised citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.
Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism estimated that up to 190,000 Chinese tourists visited the country during the nine-day holiday period. The daily average was 44 percent higher than during last year’s holiday window, which ran from Jan. 24 to 29.
The fresh wave of Chinese tourists brought rare optimism to Korea’s retail and tourism sectors, which have been dampened by a consumption slowdown.
In the weeks leading up to the holiday, retailers and tourism operators rolled out intensive marketing campaigns tailored to Chinese tourists, including discounts and gift vouchers linked to Chinese payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Source: Korea Times News
