The South Korean government will strengthen management of travel agencies designated to handle Chinese tour groups as the number of Chinese tourists visiting Korea has surged recently.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) said on Wednesday that an amendment to the Tourism Promotion Act passed the National Assembly plenary session the previous day. The amendment includes provisions to establish prohibited acts for designated travel agencies, create administrative sanctions such as business suspensions for unauthorized departures, and provide grounds for government-wide cooperation on the designation of such agencies.
The "designated travel agency" system primarily allows travel operators meeting requirements set by ministerial decree — including the capacity to attract foreign group tourists — to be designated and managed as exclusive agencies for attracting group tourists from countries that have signed memorandums of understanding or agreements with Korea. Currently, China is the only country designated under the system. The ministry plans to expand the scope to Southeast Asia and other regions in the future.
The amendment defines acts that disrupt travel industry order in the inbound group tourism market — such as low-cost tours and forced shopping — as prohibited acts by designated travel agencies. It newly establishes provisions allowing authorities to order business suspensions for up to six months or revoke designations when such prohibited acts occur. It also introduces provisions to suspend operations or revoke the designation of a travel agency if tourists it attracted engage in unauthorized departures inconsistent with the travel purpose, taking into account the number of unauthorized departures, the departure rate, and the reasons.
The ministry plans to set detailed standards for prohibited acts and requirements for administrative sanctions related to unauthorized departures through subordinate legislation. The law will take effect six months after promulgation.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 1.42 million Chinese tourists visited Korea in the first quarter of this year, up 26.9 percent from the same period last year. During this period, Chinese tourists accounted for 30 percent of all foreign visitors to Korea. With the expansion of visa-free entry expected to further increase Chinese arrivals, the move is seen as a preemptive measure by the government.
"We will use this amendment to the Tourism Promotion Act as an opportunity to establish order in the inbound group tourism market and foster a high-quality group tourism market," Minister Choi Hwi-young said, according to the ministry.
