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Mandy Zuo

Yulu Ao

Kim Ji-soo wrapped up a visit to the coastal city of Qingdao in northern China just last weekend, but she is already contemplating where she will go on her next visit.
“It seemed affordable, nearby and I wanted to visit a new city,” said the 57-year-old Seoul resident, who had been to Beijing before.
“I enjoyed the food and the vast space the most,” Kim said, adding that the city’s bustling energy – which she attributed in part to the number of newborns and young children with their parents – was another lure.
While South Korea is already China’s largest source of foreign tourists, even more of its nationals have been making trips to their western neighbour in recent months.
About 1.7 million South Koreans visited China in the first half of this year, up 16 per cent from the same period last year, according to figures from South Korea’s Ministry of Justice.
Much of the increase can be attributed to weekend trips like Kim’s, which only required a two-hour flight and carried no visa requirements for entry. Beijing began permitting visa-free visits of up to 30 days by South Korean tourists in November 2024.
Short-haul trips accounted for 82 per cent of South Koreans’ outbound journeys between July 18 and August 8, with China ranking first among all overseas destinations at 27.4 per cent, according to data from Modetour, a South Korean travel agency.
China’s visa-free policy has boosted satisfaction, return intentions and recommendation rates among Korean tourists, with Shanghai, Beijing, Zhangjiajie and Qingdao among the top destinations, People’s Daily said in a report on Tuesday, quoting a recent survey by the China National Tourism Office in Seoul.
The restaurant next door, which mainly serves short-term Korean tourists, has seen its Korean customer numbers steadily increasing
Jang Seung-ho, Shanghai
“People seemed to enjoy food with family and the weekend seemed leisurely,” Kim said.
What was appealing to her was an energy among the Chinese people she encountered, a spirit she described as “we can only become more prosperous”, which reminded Kim of the “can-do” attitude that bubbled up in her home country around the time of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
However, language and internet access remain major barriers, she added.
On the flip side of the surge in short-term travel, there has been a decline in the number of South Koreans travelling to China for long-term work or residency, according to service industry businesses in Shanghai, a financial centre that has traditionally been the gateway to China for foreigners.
Jang Seung-ho, the Korean owner of a barbecue restaurant in the Hongquan Road area of Shanghai – which has a relatively high concentration of Koreans – said the number of Korean customers had been declining over the past two years, and was even lower now than before the pandemic. That was because his business traditionally relied on Korean expatriates working in China, Jang said.
“The restaurant next door, which mainly serves short-term Korean tourists, has seen its Korean customer numbers steadily increasing,” he said.
South Korea surpassed Japan as China’s top source of foreign tourists two decades ago, with a peak of about 4.35 million in 2019, official data revealed.
The numbers have rebounded since the Covid-19 pandemic, though are still below 2019 levels. Last year, arrivals from South Korea rose 37 per cent to 3.16 million, according to Seoul’s justice ministry.
The neighbouring countries reached an agreement in May to expand air traffic by a total of 70 flights a week, including 56 for passengers and 14 for cargo, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced in June. It was the first expansion of bilateral air rights between the two countries since 2019.


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About 1.7 million South Koreans visited China in the first half of this year, up 16 per cent from the same period last year


About 1.7 million South Koreans visited China in the first half of this year, up 16 per cent from the same period last year.


Visa-free entry, short flights fuel surge in weekend trips to China among South Koreans

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}About 1.7 million South Koreans visited China in the first half of this year, up 16 per cent from the same period last year

About 1.7 million South Koreans visited China in the first half of this year, up 16 per cent from the same period last year