S. Korea 4th most popular destination for Chinese tourists

SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea ranked fourth after Australia, Japan and Hong Kong among preferred Chinese tourist destinations, an online hotel reservation site said Tuesday.

The survey of 3,000 Chinese tourists and officials at about 5,800 hotel-related firms worldwide, conducted by the hotel reservation site Hotels.com, found that 15 percent of respondents said they want to visit Australia. It was followed by 13 percent who selected Japan. Hong Kong was chosen by 11 percent, followed by South Korea, which was picked by 7 percent.

The Maldives, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, France and Taiwan were the rest of the top 10, according to the survey.

South Korea aims to attract 8 million Chinese tourists this year while strengthening regulations against low-cost tour packages.

Riding the wave of the popularity of K-pop and culture in China, South Korean officials said they have developed various tour packages specialized in fashion, beauty, culture and leisure.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea fell 2.3 percent on-year to 5.98 million people last year, hit by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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