Chinese Tourist Numbers Hit 3 Mil. in 9 Months of the Year

SEOUL, KOREA- The number of Chinese visitors has surpassed 3 million this year to date for the first time in history, overtaking that for Japanese. The Ministry of Justice said on October 22 that Chinese inbound visitor numbers were 3,085,232 for the first nine months of the year, up 48 percent from 2,079,025 during the same period last year.

Due to a rise in Chinese tourists, the total visitor numbers have also increased 4.7 percent to 8,049,104. Meanwhile, the number of Japanese visitors fell 26 percent to 2,039,508 from 2,756,560 during the same period.

By age group, those Chinese travelers in their 20s and 30s took the largest share at 45.3 percent. By gender, women accounted for 59.6 percent. By entrance type, group tourists took the highest portion with 1,027,360, followed by no-visa entrance to Jeju Island (344,843), cruise ship tour (329,561), and no-visa layover tour (70,983). Of these, cruise tourism rose 195 percent from 2012.

A Justice Ministry official said, "It seems our measures to permit no-visa visits for transfer passengers and simplifying customs procedure for cruise tourists took effect."

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