Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

The South Korean government's recent announcement of a trial visa-free entry policy for Chinese group tourists to stay for up to 15 days, starting from September 29, has drawn widespread attention from the tourism and business communities in both countries. 

Various regions in South Korea are bustling with preparations, focusing on developing a diverse range of tourism products to meet the upcoming large-scale influx of Chinese tourists, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Sunday.

The upcoming National Day holidays, as the first important tourism period after the policy implementation, may offer an initial test of the short-term appeal of this visa-free policy through passenger flow data and consumption scale. But for the policy to truly become a powerful driving force for bilateral exchanges, South Korea faces not only the opportunity to activate its tourism industry chain but also challenges.

In terms of opportunities, amid the recovery of the global tourism market, Chinese tourists, with their strong purchasing power and large-scale outbound travel, have become a highly sought-after group by many countries. Various countries have introduced preferential policies to attract Chinese tourists. 

For instance, last week, the Tourism Authority of Thailand launched its "Nihao Month" campaign in Guangzhou to boost Chinese travel to Thailand during the National Day holidays. 

In this sense, South Korea's introduction of a visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists at this time apparently aims to secure a bigger share of this valuable market. The policy is likely to provide a noticeable boost to South Korea's tourism sector. Based on experience, a large-scale influx of Chinese group tourists will directly drive the prosperity of many related industries in South Korea, such as hotels, catering, shopping, and transportation. This will in turn create more job opportunities, relieve employment pressure, and inject new vitality into South Korea's economic recovery.

Nevertheless, challenges remain. The experience of Chinese tourists in South Korea has included inconveniences related to payments, language barriers, and cultural adaptation. If these issues reemerge during the peak travel period of the National Day holidays, they could directly affect visitor satisfaction and undermine the goodwill brought by the policy. 

Therefore, the success of the visa-waiver measure depends not only on attracting tourists but also on facilitating deeper industry cooperation between the two countries. A critical area is improving the convenience of cross-border payments.

The convenience of payment links directly affects tourists' consumption experience and willingness to spend, and while China and South Korea have a foundation for cooperation in this field, there is still room for improvement.

There is also broad space for cooperation in other areas of the tourism industry. The popularity of Korean cultural products in China, for example, offers a natural opportunity to develop themed tours to famous filming locations and cultural sites. The two sides can strengthen exchanges and cooperation, deeply combine their tourism resources, and jointly create attractive tourism routes and products.

Furthermore, the implementation of the visa-free policy could stimulate broader cooperation in areas such as direct flights and financial services. Increasing demand for travel between the two countries may justify additional air routes, improving connectivity and reducing costs. Meanwhile, in the financial field, the two countries can strengthen cooperation in cross-border financial services and currency exchange to provide more convenient and secure financial services for tourists and promote the interconnection of the financial markets of the two countries.

The visa-free policy marks a positive step toward deepening tourism and economic cooperation between China and South Korea. Yet, the long-term effectiveness of this policy hinges on whether South Korea can adequately address operational challenges, especially those affecting the quality of the tourist experience. 

In the context of countries around the world competing for Chinese tourists, South Korea needs to seize this opportunity and prevent negative issues from affecting normal exchanges between China and South Korea. Only in this way can South Korea make the visa-free policy truly become a friendly bridge connecting China and South Korea and promote mutual benefit and win-win results in tourism, economic and trade and other fields.