South Korea’s retail and hospitality industries are getting their hopes up on full-scale recovery of Chinese tourists and Beijing’s outright removal of group tour ban to Korea ahead of Lunar New Year holiday and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Korea.

According to convenience store CU, the number of transactions of UnionPay card and Alipay, the two most popular payment vehicles of Chinese visitors, in its stores in Seoul’s Jungu District from Jan. 1 to 14 jumped 193.8 percent on year and 37 percent on month.

A realtor in the area said leasing in commercial buildings in Myeongdong, the popular shopping district among foreign visitors in the capital Seoul, was almost cut in half when the Chinese government imposed travel ban to Korea in retaliation against Seoul’s deployment of an U.S. antimissile system in 2017. But the real estate market in the area has been picking up recently on the increasing number of visitors from the Southeast Asian countries and the returning of Chinese visitors amid Beijing’s easing of the ban.

Retailers and hotel business operators in Myeongdong are pinning high hopes on Lunar New Year holiday, which is one of the biggest holidays in China. The holiday begins next week. They said their sales already started bottoming out after falling to the lowest point since the group tour ban in 2017, and their businesses are expected to be further boosted during the upcoming holiday.

The country’s retail and tourism industry was hit hard by the diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing but the bilateral relations have been showing signs of recovery after South Korean President Moon Jae-in held summit with Xi last month, and Xi is also expected to visit Korea within the first half.

Last week, around 5,000 employees of Yi Yong Tang, Chinese health supplement maker, stayed in Korea for six days as part of the firm’s incentive program, the largest single group since the travel ban.

By Kang In-seon and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]