According to the Korea Tourism Organization on June 3, the number of tour program cancelations jumped 180 percent from 2,500 on June 1 to 7,000 on June 2. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jun. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreigners who had travel plans in Korea are increasingly canceling their reservations.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization on June 3, the number of tour program cancelations jumped 180 percent from 2,500 on June 1 to 7,000 on June 2.
The number of hotel reservations for July and August by Chinese tourists also dropped 80 percent compared to last year.
Hana Tour saw the number of its clients from China canceling travel plans increase to 554 on June 3 from 300 on June 2. However, the company did not have any cancelations from American or European tourists.
Mode Tour also received cancelations of travel plans in June from 120 Chinese tourists.
A tour agency individual said that Chinese, who were deeply affected by SARS, will surely avoid travels to Korea as Chinese media are widely covering the MERS outbreak in Korea.
Another tour agency worker said that the agency had been flooded with cancelations of reservations for hotels and amusement parks in Korea.
Hana Tour said that the company usually receives 15 to 20 hotel reservation requests a day from China for June and July, but on June 3, the company received only 4 hotel reservations.
By J. W. Choi (summerchoi@koreabizwire.com)
