Chinese tourists cry foul after being forced to shop in Korea

Chinese group tourists arrive at Incheon International Airport, Aug. 27. Newsis

Chinese group tourists visiting Korea on package holidays are herded into stores and pressured to pay for optional tour programs by travel guides here, a lawmaker said, Wednesday.

A total of 24 cases, in which Chinese group tourists were pressured by their Korean tour guides to shop or choose optional tour programs, were reported between 2017 and September this year, according to documents that Rep. Kim Seung-su of the ruling People Power Party obtained from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

The reports said that some Chinese tourists were taken to stores and coerced into purchasing cosmetics products, nutritional supplements and duty-free items.

“The guide and tour leader took us to a ginseng shop in Seoul. They took us to a room, locked the door and blocked the entrance,” a report by a Chinese traveler said in translated Korean, adding that the group was taken to two more stores in remote locations, where some of the sellers were Chinese nationals.

Another report echoed the former’s experience, explaining some guides “wouldn’t let the group leave the store unless we make purchases” and fulfill their “designated quota of sales.”

Some guides even ridiculed Chinese tourists who refused to shop and they reportedly claimed that shopping is part of the tour program “requested by the Korean government.”

Others even demanded Chinese tourists to pay for and participate in an “optional tour activity” costing 400 Chinese yuan ($54) after they resisted to the forced shopping. Otherwise, they had to pay 1,500 yuan as a fine for “veering away from the schedule,” and most people in the group chose to pay for the less costly “optional” program.

China banned group tours to Korea following the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system here in March 2017. The ban was lifted in August this year, ending a six-year hiatus, raising hopes of the return of Chinese travelers, who accounted for the lion's share of tourists coming to Korea.

Chinese nationals who suffered such treatments are assumed to have visited the country on individual tourist visas and purchased group tour programs through messengers such as WeChat. Over 17 million Chinese people visited Korea since 2017, according to the KTO.

As more Chinese people are expected to visit Korea due to the lifted travel regulations, Park In-sook, the president of the Korea Tourist Guide Association (KOTGA), said, "The industry’s years-long malpractice focused only on making profits plays a critical role in ruining the country’s image” and warned it could seriously damage the industry in the long run.

Meanwhile, Rep. Kim urged the industry to double efforts to reform itself and called for a certification system to control the quality of tour programs to Korea.

In September, the Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA) gathered domestic agencies in charge of Chinese group tours and held a meeting to campaign against such forced shopping practices.

However, Park believes government-led actions are necessary.

“Travel authorities must set detailed and specific guidelines against the industry’s unfair business practices, such as forced shopping, and mobilize administrative power to punish offenders,” she said.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced plans last month to crack down on the industry’s unfair business practices, including overcharging tourists, underpaying tourism employees, and forcing Chinese group tourists to shop, in order to improve the travel experience of foreign visitors.

In response to growing criticism on the industry’s custom of forced shopping, the ministry plans to establish a reporting center to monitor such malpractices.