On Thursday, August 10th 2023, China finally lifted the travel ban on 78 countries, including South Korea and Japan, three years after it was initiated due to the spread of the COVID virus.

The Chinese Tourism Ministry commented that “From now on, travel agencies across the country and online travel companies will resume operating outbound group tours,” and that China’s outbound tourism is “playing a positive role in promoting tourism exchanges and cooperation.”

In 2020, the National immigration administration said that they would “tighten the approval of entry and exit documents for Chinese citizens for non-essential reasons such as travel.” At the time, China allowed group travel to only 60 countries or so, with South Korea not on the list.

South Korea’s travel ban came from Beijing due to the controversies around the deployment of the Terminal-High-Altitude-Air-Defense system, THAAD, in March of 2017. According to the Korean Tourist Organization, when the deployment of the THAAD system was announced, the list of prospective Chinese tourists dropped from around 8 million to 4.2 million individuals.

“SEOUNGJU, South Korea - U.S. military personals explain to South Korean reporters about the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles while the ROK military personals take various numerical measures around the missile on July 18th, 2016.”

In light of the ease of restrictions, Korean and Japanese tourism companies’ stocks have risen on the prospect of returning Chinese customers. Chinese companies have also taken the initiative, with many releasing travel packages to Seoul, Busan, and Jeju, all popular destinations for travel.

For many of the carriers that transport Chinese passengers to these destinations, while this ease will be beneficial greatly in the long run, it is very hard to suddenly accommodate such a large number of tourists. The same can be said for some other businesses, but more are interested in the economic benefits they will bring.

The immense wealth of the oncoming wave of tourists will bring great benefit not only to the airlines transporting them, but the hotels, restaurants, malls, even countries that are willing to invest in appealing to these tourists.

<ChanHyong Chung BCCHS / 11th Grade>