A reservation service for group tours to South Korea on Ctrip’s website (image: Yonhap)
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — China lifted a ban on the online sale of group tour programs to South Korea on Wednesday imposed in retaliation for the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula.
Ctrip, a leading travel agency in China, decided to restart the online marketing of related products nationwide in a meeting of executives and immediately posted them on its website. They include a five-day tour program involving Seoul and Gangwon Province.
The move was in accordance with new guidelines issued by the Chinese authorities, a travel industry source said.
But the company attached a condition that tourists should not use the services of Lotte Group affiliates. Lotte provided its land to the military for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in Seongju, 300 kilometers south of Seoul.
Other Chinese travel agencies are expected to follow suit, the source added.
China prohibited its nationals from joining group tours to South Korea after the THAAD system was stationed on the peninsula last year.
Offline marketing of such products was permitted earlier.
(Yonhap)
