Since May 1998, when China granted Korea Approved Destination Status, trips to Korea have been limited to Chinese citizens living in one of nine mainland cities or provinces.
These are: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Shandong Province, Jiangxu Province, Guangdong Province, Anhui Province and Shangxi Province.
But the Chinese government agreed to lift the restrictions at the fourth meeting of the Korean-Chinese Council on Tourism Promotion in Seoul recently.
"The lifting of the ban is going to help double the number of Chinese travellers to Korea to 700,000 in 2000 under the new joint package programmes that Korea's and China's travel agencies will develop,'' said the Culture and Tourism Ministry's International Tourism Division chief Cho Hyun-jae.
China was initially reluctant to ease restrictions, due to fears of illegal immigration. "But, only 0.04 per cent of Chinese visitors to Korea [absconded],'' said Cho.
Between January and October this year, 260,000 mainland Chinese tourists visited Korea, making it the third largest tourist market after Japan and America.
Both governments have also agreed to increase the number of travel agencies that handle only Chinese tourists to more than 50 from the current 35.
The Seoul office of the China National Tourism Administration, which was closed in December 1997, will also resume operations. A second representative office of the Korea National Tourism Organisation (KNTO) is planned in Shangahi.