Chinese to get tourist visa faster

The Korean government plans to ease the process of issuing visas to Chinese tourists, making it a quicker more convenient procedure.

The Presidential Council on National Competitiveness said Wednesday that the Korean government will expand online visa-issuance for Chinese medical tourists and expand no-visa entries for Chinese visitors.

It expects the faster and more convenient service will attract more tourists from the largest tourism market and help create a single tourist zone between China and Korea.

Such plans on improving the current tourism industry were reported to President Lee Myung-bak at the 30th meeting of the council held in Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday morning.

The committee plans to transform Korea’s tourism industry into a high-value tourist market.

“We’re expecting to see 11 billion tourists by the end of this year but we still lack accommodation and high-quality tour services. We need to improve Korea’s image to foreign tourists through improving the quality of the tourism market,” said Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness.

“Until now, Japanese people were the majority of foreign visitors to Korea, but the Chinese are expected to overtake their Japanese counterparts in the near future and become Korea’s number one overseas market.”

The number of Chinese visitors to Korea is growing rapidly. The growth rate of Chinese tourists is 1.5 times higher than that of Japanese. It recorded a 29 percent growth rate this year whereas Japan recorded 19.6 percent. The number of Chinese tourists also nearly tripled to 3 million this year from 1.07 million in 2007. The number of Japanese tourists increased by 1.5 times to 3.5 million this year from 2.24 million in 2007.

The gap between the number of Japanese and Chinese tourists is also narrowing from a difference of 1 million last year to 600,000 this year. At this rate, the number of Chinese tourists is expected to outnumber that of Japanese by 2014.

The government plans to actively provide visas to Chinese medical tourists through “Hu-net,” an online visa-issuance system. It also plans to expand no-visa entry for Chinese visitors transiting through the country. At the moment, only Chinese people bound for Jeju are allowed to enter without visas through Incheon International Airport within 12 hours.

As for Korea and Japan, the two countries agreed on a visa-waiver for each other’s tourists.

The presidential committee also said it will root out low-quality tour programs that hamper Korea’s image. It will strengthen monitoring of low-quality tour agencies and unlicensed tour guides while improving the status and conditions for certified guides.

It will also strengthen customized services for Chinese tourists by creating smart phone applications for Chinese tourists and expanding the number of signboards written in Chinese. Moreover, it plans to promote tour products targeting high-income bracket Chinese tourists. <The Korea Times/Yun Suh-young>