Is a Full Lift of Travel Ban Coming?
On May 3, the China National Tourism Administration allowed Wuhan-based travel agencies to resume their group tours to South Korea. Those in Chongqing are likely to follow suit sooner or later. Some in the industry are saying that the travel ban, which has been one of the most typical THAAD retaliation means of the Chinese government, will be completely eliminated in the second half of this year.
“The administration held a meeting today and allowed travel agencies in Wuhan to provide the programs again,” said a local news source, adding, “The same rules as Beijing and Shandong are applied to Wuhan and the same decision is about to be made in Chongqing.”
The limitations applied to Beijing- and Shandong-based travel agencies stipulate that their group tour programs should not include any accommodation in Lotte Hotel and any shopping at Lotte Duty Free. In addition, low-cost tour packages are prohibited and no group tour can be sold by online travel agencies. Chartered planes and cruise ships are still prohibited, too.
Previously, the travel ban applied to the offline agencies in Beijing and Shandong was lifted on November 28 ahead of last year’s South Korea-China summit. Wuhan and Chongqing are two of the regions where the demand for group tours to South Korea is relatively small. When it comes to the largest markets, that is, Guangdong and Shanghai, the same measure is expected to be taken next week.