The number of Chinese tourists has plummeted by 90 percent this year in the wake of South Korea’s deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system, which China opposes. As Mike Laidman now reports, though, it’s not only bad news.




Report

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About 625,000 Chinese tourists visited the island from January through August this year.

That’s a 71 percent drop from the 2,159,000 who visited during the first eight months of 2016.

Beijing began discouraging or even banning tours to Korea in March to oppose South Korea’s deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system.

When comparing the numbers between March and August for 2016 and 2017, they drop by 87.7 percent.

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But despite these huge drops, the total number of tourists visiting Jeju has decreased by just 6.7 percent.

The island had about 8,980,000 domestic tourists for the first eight months. That’s 9.7 percent growth compared with the corresponding period in 2016.

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The local tourism market, which had depended heavily on Chinese tourists, is changing to welcome international travellers from various countries.

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More arrivals from Japan, SE Asia

The number of Japanese tourists is increasing for the first time in five years.

And the number of visitors from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and other Asian countries has recorded double-digit growth this year. More than 348,000 visitors came to the island from these countries.

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Direct flights to Indonesia planned

Beginning next month, direct flights between Jeju and Indonesia will open, with direct flights to Thailand resuming, as well.

INTERVIEW
Hyeon Hak-su / Director, Provincial tourism policy dept.
Organizations are working closely to attract more visitors. A new campaign called “Discovery, New Jeju” will soon launch to welcome visitors from various countries.
<인터뷰:현학수 제주도 관광정책과장>
"유관기관이 협력해서 공동 마케팅을 강화해 나갈 계획입니다. 디스커버리 뉴제주 캠페인을 전개해 외국 관광객 시장을 다변화해 나갈 계획입니다."

Experts had expected that the tourism industry would shrink due to THAAD, but in fact, the number of tourism businesses has actually increased.

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83 businesses close, 128 open

83 local tourism-related businesses have closed since the controversy over THAAD began, while 128 businesses have newly opened.

Among the new are 14 travel agencies.

Insiders say that the local tourism industry is quickly adapting to the change.

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Accommodations, duty-free shops continue to struggle

Meanwhile, lower sales at local accommodations and duty-free shops continue as Chinese tourists account for such a large percentage of their business.

The controversy over the anti-missile defense system isn’t likely to be resolved soon.

[Reporter] Mike Laidman
[Camera] Kim Yong-min

The plunge in the number of Chinese visitors has been a game changer to the local tourism industry, and how it has adapted to this change has been remarkable.

Mike Laidman, KCTV