South Korea to waive visa fees for Chinese tour groups

By Hoang Phong September 8, 2023 | 11:28 pm PT

A group of Chinese tourists at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, January 12, 2023. Photo by Reuters

South Korea plans to waive the visa fee of 18,000 won (US$13.47) for Chinese tourists until the end of this year to help revive tourism.

South Korean authorities are also seeking to increase the number of flights to China and simplify duty-free tax refund in a bid to attract more Chinese tourists, Korea Times reported.

China had last month added South Korea to the list of countries to which its nationals can go on outbound tours.

South Korea hopes to attract 1.5 million Chinese tourists in the second half of the year.

In 2019, the year before Covid broke out, six million Chinese visited South Korea.

Thailand plans to waive visas for Chinese visitors from October to attract tourists from the world's largest outbound market.