China's travel agencies continue to sell tour packages to S. Korea: Global Times

중국 관영매체, “중국 여행사 내년 1월 한국행 관광상품 판매중”

China's ban on group tour packages to South Korea.
After some signs of thaw in Seoul-Beijing relations it seemed to be partially lifted, then there were reports of the restriction being back in place again.
The latest comes from China's Global Times... that it's been reversed again.
Ji Myung-kil helps us get a clearer grasp of what's going on.
China's Global Times has confirmed on Friday that group tour packages to South Korea will still be for sale in January.
The paper also said the China International Travel Service is selling six different types of package tours bound for South Korea and that the travel service had not been told to re-impose the ban.
China's CYTS Tours also said while they don't have any group tour programs scheduled for South Korea at the moment,... they do plan to re-introduce them at some point.

Back in March... Beijing slapped a comprehensive ban on local tour agencies from selling tour packages to South Korea in apparent retaliation against Seoul's decision to deploy the U.S. missile defense system... THAAD.
The ban was lifted in late November as a follow-up to the two countries agreement to put the row over THAAD behind then.
China requires its nationals to get approval for group tours.

The Bank of Korea said earlier this month that South Korea has suffered a loss of over 4-point-5 billion U.S. dollars this year due to the decline in Chinese tourists.
Last year, tourists from China accounted for nearly half of the 17 million foreigners who visited South Korea.
Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.

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