South Korea has always been a popular destination for Chinese tourists. But the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, better known as MERS, in late May caused a sharp decrease in those numbers.
Now, a delegation led by the mayor of Seoul, is visiting three Chinese cities in a bid to win back tourists.
If you want to have some of the most authentic Korean experiences in Shanghai, you have to visit this street. Everything is set in a Korean way as you can tell from the food, shop signs, and dialogue. There are now more than 20,000 South Koreans living in Shanghai, making it the third largest expat community in the city.
Wang Huiwen, 27, is a big fan of Korean culture. Even when in Shanghai, she frequently visits this Korean-style street.
In fact, she loves the culture so much she refused to cancel her trip to Seoul, even though there was still a travel alert in place for the MERS virus.
"I was there for 14 days. Many of my friends and family told me to cancel the trip because of the virus. I went there and I thought it was better than it seemed on TV. I enjoyed my trip," said Wang Huiwen, Chinese Tourist.
Few Chinese tourists, however, have been so willing to take the same risk. According to official figures, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to South Korea plunged 80 percent compared to the same time last year. And with China making up almost half of South Korea's total foreign tourists, that has been a huge loss to bear.
But on July 28, Seoul declared the MERS danger effectively over, with just one patient still under observation. And now officials are moving fast to make up that lost ground. A government delegation from South Korea visited the most popular travel agency in Shanghai on Tuesday to win back their hearts.
Park Won-Soon, Mayor of Seoul said:"We've launched many tourism related programs, from sales to culture, to attract more tourists from China. Also we want to turn this crisis into a chance to look back on our own tourism industry. We hope to make Chinese tourists feel at home."
"We hope to see more individual tourists from China enjoy travel on our island. The goal of the visit this time is to establish cooperation with large travel companies in China to improve the experience and services during travel from both sides," said Won Hee-Ryong, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.
World Health Organization standards call for a four-week waiting period after the last MERS patient fully recovers before the end of an outbreak can be formally declared. For South Korea, that announcement is expected to be made in late August. But even before that, they are laying the groundwork for Chinese tourists to once again come travel their country.
