An alley crowded with vacationers in central Seoul’s Bukchon Hanok Village. Korea Occasions photograph by Park Si-mon
With rising tensions between China and Japan disrupting journey plans, Chinese language vacationers are actively in search of different locations for his or her winter getaways. Whereas South Korea hopes to capitalize on this diverted vacationer stream, it faces fierce competitors from standard hotspots like Thailand, Russia and different locations, based on journey business officers.
The diplomatic spat started when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi advised potential army intervention within the Taiwan Strait, prompting Beijing to situation a journey warning on Nov. 14.
Chinese language airways had been instructed to supply refunds on Japan-bound flights by means of the top of the 12 months, leaving tons of of hundreds of Chinese language vacationers scrambling to regulate their plans.
The timing aligns with Korean airways’ efforts to increase routes to China, that are extra worthwhile than routes to Japan. Korean Air Strains elevated its Incheon-Fuzhou route from three weekly flights to 4 final month, and Asiana Airways is about to function 165 weekly flights to China by March, reflecting a 20 % enhance in capability.
Chinese language cruise operators are additionally scrambling to bypass Japanese ports, opting as a substitute to increase their stays at locations reminiscent of Jeju Island.
Information from Chinese language journey platform Qunar revealed that for the weekend of Nov. 15, Korea emerged as the most well-liked abroad vacation spot for Chinese language vacationers, overtaking Japan, which beforehand held the highest spot. It additionally ranked first in flight ticket funds and search quantity, adopted by Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.
In response to knowledge from the Korea Tourism Group, 4.7 million Chinese language vacationers visited Korea between January and October this 12 months, exceeding the entire variety of guests for final 12 months. However at the same time as Korea hopes to profit from the lingering tensions between China and Japan, a number of journey companies informed The Korea Occasions that Chinese language vacationers have an abundance of different journey locations, at the same time as curiosity in visiting Korea continues to develop.
Chinese language vacationers go to Sensoji temple within the Asakusa district of Tokyo, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The current China-Japan tensions disrupted many Chinese language vacationers’ plans to go to Japan. Yonhap-AP
Some Chinese language vacationers are more and more choosing locations which are visa-free, reminiscent of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Georgia and Egypt, based on Li Xiaoya, a journey agent with a Beijing-based company.
“Most group excursions’ flight tickets to Japan have been canceled, and we’re now as a substitute selling packages for different nations and areas, reminiscent of Thailand, Semporna (in Malaysia), South Korea and others,” she stated.
In response to knowledge launched by Tongcheng Journey on Monday, lodge bookings by Chinese language vacationers for journeys to Korea within the final two weeks of November surged by over 240 % year-on-year. Lodge bookings for Southeast Asian locations reminiscent of Vietnam and Indonesia additionally noticed year-on-year development exceeding one hundred pc, whereas bookings for Germany and Spain confirmed a powerful year-on-year enhance of greater than 300 %.
Russia can also be favored by Chinese language vacationers this week, due to the implementation of visa-free insurance policies for as much as 30 days beginning this month. Chinese language media reported that searches and bookings for journeys to Russia surged following the announcement of the visa waiver.
Information launched by Qunar final week revealed that Thailand has turn out to be the highest vacation spot for Chinese language outbound vacationers through the winter trip interval (Jan. 15 to Feb. 10, 2026). In the meantime, Russia has skilled a big surge in reputation, with flight bookings growing 1.5 occasions year-on-year.
A workers member at a journey company catering to Chinese language vacationers in Korea famous a slight uptick in winter bookings following the China-Japan tensions. Nonetheless, the rise has been modest, possible as a result of January and February usually are not peak journey months for Korea, he stated.
“There are quite a few choices for Chinese language vacationers seeking to expertise winter landscapes, together with home locations like Harbin or worldwide areas reminiscent of Russia and numerous European nations. South Korea is dealing with stiff competitors on this space,” the workers member stated.
Lit ice sculptures in Ordzhonikidze Sq. through the Winter Begins in Yakutia Competition in Novosibirsk, Russia. Chinese language guests now have visa-free entry to Russia beginning this month, driving a surge in searches and bookings for journeys to the nation. Yonhap-TASS
A gross sales consultant from a Shanghai-based Chinese language airline revealed that the provider initially deliberate to cut back flight capability to Thailand in November and December. Nonetheless, because of the ongoing tensions with Japan, they determined to extend capability as a substitute.
“Locations like Sanya (in Hainan province) and Thailand normally expertise some year-on-year development amongst Chinese language vacationers through the winter season,” the consultant added.
In the meantime, Korea stays an interesting vacation spot for vacationers from cities like Shanghai.
Willow Zhao, a 27-year-old doctoral pupil in Shanghai who not too long ago canceled her journey to Japan, stated she is actively contemplating Korea attributable to its handy location and the attract of duty-free procuring.
Nonetheless, Korea’s visa coverage could deter particular person vacationers adjusting to sudden journey plan modifications. At present, solely group excursions qualify for visa-free entry. Xie Lumei, an accountant from Fujian province, shared that she initially needed to go to Seoul however determined in opposition to it, unwilling to take care of the effort of a visa utility.
Alyssa Chen is a reporter with the South China Morning Put up. She is presently based mostly in Seoul, writing for each The Korea Occasions and the South China Morning Put up below an change program.
