TOUR operators and incentive organisers from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines can now apply for group visas for their travellers who are visiting South Korea as of January 1.
The new policy reduces the hassle of individual travellers having to apply for visas when they are travelling as a group, Lee Sootaek, director of Asia & Middle East in Korea Tourism Organization, told TTG Asia e-Daily.
He said: “We are trying our best to remove all obstacles travellers may face, especially when it comes to visas, so this will make the travel process smoother.”
Welcoming the news, Indonesia-based Aneka Kartika Tours & Travel Service, operation manager, Ronald Gunawan, projects a 40 per cent boost in volume to South Korea this year as a result of the change.
He said: “We send at least one group to South Korea every month. As we are located in Surabaya, we need to send the application to Jakarta first before it can be sent to South Korea and this takes an even longer time. I am predicting the application time can be cut to four days now.”
Peter Pham Tien Dung, director of Vietnam-based Goldentour & Convention, said this would relieve him of much paperwork. “It normally takes up to two weeks for visas to be approved.”
He added that South Korea is his top-selling destination and is experiencing year-on-year demand growth of 20 per cent.
Robert Tan, executive director, JTR Events & Marketing Vietnam, who is currently arranging for 10 groups to visit South Korea over the next two months, said: “This will help us process the bookings and get confirmations faster.”
Arjun Shroff, managing director of Shroff International Travel Care Philippines, who handles corporate groups of up to 40 travellers, shared the same sentiments. However he suggested that the visa application process be made available online too.
Read more in TTG Official Show Daily – ATF 2014
