Understanding the tourism relationships between South Korea and China: a review of influential factors

Abstract

This study describes the progress of cross-border tourism between South Korea and China in the volatile region of East Asia. It moves beyond normative economic modelling to explain some of the changes in tourist flows between the two countries from a descriptive perspective, looking at influential external factors that affect tourism cooperation and tourist flows. Issues examined here include political, economic, and national security factors, as well as cultural cooperation. This paper examines these variables, which impact the two countries' tourism collaborative efforts and organic bilateral growth, as well as the role of tourism on the establishment of a reconciliatory relationship between the two nations, which have historically been at odds.

The Macroeconomic Determinants of International Casino Travel: Evidence from South Korea’s Top Four Inbound Markets

“…In that line of inquiry, economic variables have frequently been studied as potential determinants of tourist flows between disparate nations [53]. Given that tourism arrivals for casino visits are key underpins of numerous national economies [54], the heretofore assessed empirical results for the casino sector in the existing tourism-economics literature is lacking [10].…”

Examining the Relationships of Image and Attitude on Visit Intention to Korea among Tanzanian College Students: The Moderating Effect of Familiarity

“…As destination options proliferate in an expanding global tourism marketplace, destination operators are being forced to invest more money and effort into differentiating their offerings, intensifying their destination images abroad, and winning tourists' loyalty. In light of that fact, it is notable that in recent past years South Korea saw its appeal undercut because foreign tourists felt it lacked product diversity [66]. That phenomenon led to a reduction in South Korea's competitive posture relative to neighboring destinations such as Japan and Hong Kong.…”

Political travel constraint: The role of Chinese popular nationalism

“…This research is a response to the clear research gap that exists on this issue in the literature. Moreover, this research also illustrates the need for a deeper understanding of the theoretical linkage between political sciences and tourism (Matthews & Richter, 1991) beyond the current approaches that mainly focus on policy analysis when analyzing international relationship in tourist flow (Timothy & Kim, 2015).…”

“…It has acknowledged the political realities between two formerly hostile nations to identify underlying factors that may affect tourist flows. More importantly, as suggested by Timothy and Kim (2015), tourist flows may be volatile and fluctuate based on fluid variables that change from time to time. Chinese popular nationalism stems in part from Chinese consumers' increasing knowledge about the West, their perceptions of unfair treatment by Western countries in the past, and more recently national pride in China's emergence as a global economic power (Zhao, 2004).…”