China travel agencies banned from sending Chinese tour groups to South Korea

China governement told major travel agencies to stop selling tours in South Korea in retaliation in Seoul for the installation of the missile defense system THAAD.

China travel agencies banned from sending tour groups to South Korea

So far, the ban has not been officially announced and it is not clear to what extent it reaches, but the South Korean Press Agency Yonhap reports that China's National Tourism Administration (CNTA ) Gave travel agencies in Beijing verbal instructions Thursday to "suspend sales of all travel packages, online and offline, in South Korea." The Financial Times provides additional evidence for the ban:
Wang Ki-jeune, director of the South Korean Ministry of Culture, said Friday that Chinese authorities were ordered to Beijing tourism agencies to stop touring in South Korea from mid-March. Mr. Wang said the move is being extended to other provinces. Meanwhile, a seller of online travel company Tuniu Corp told the Financial Times that he had Friday "removed all tours in South Korea due to the Thaad issue." A search of South Korean tours on the site returns the message: "Sorry, we found our relevant product". Written instructions apparently issued by the Tourism Administration in China, shown to the FT by the Beijing travel agent, annual ordering agencies visits groupings in South Korea reserves for March 15 and add that Companies that do not comply with conditions of validity to a fine or have been revoked. The Tourism Administration is not available immediately for comments.
On its official website, the CNTA has reported a disturbing warning to Chinese travelers of the attention on the choice of South Korea as a travel destination. While there are still Chinese travel agencies selling tours in South Korea for the month of March, the South Korean tourism industry is preparing for the worst. Last year, 8.06 million Chinese tourists in sight of South Korea, spending an average of $ 2,391 per person. While 60% of Chinese visitors visited the countries themselves, about half of them are presumed to have purchased the tickets with national travel agencies. On the basis of these figures, Korea could lose about $ 9.63 billion in tourist revenues because of the ban, according to the Yonhap. understand China travel agency on marketingtochina

A travel ban is probably more difficult for duty-free shops, which depend on Chinese tourists in their pocket inside 70% Of their business. Last month, photos have been viral online showing comment Chinese travelers regularly eat the departure room of Jeju International Airport with a packing amount of all its duty-free purchases