Royal Caribbean cuts
South Korean sites from China cruises
Send a link to a friend
[March 09, 2017]
BEIJING/SHANGHAI
(Reuters) - Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd will remove visits to South
Korean ports from its China cruises, the firm said in a statement, amid
rising tension between the two countries over Seoul's deployment of a
U.S. missile defense system.
In a post on its Chinese website, the U.S. cruise operator, one of the
world's biggest, said it had changed its China-based cruises to remove
visits to popular South Korean resorts because of "recent developments
regarding the situation in South Korea".
The move makes Royal Caribbean one of the first major travel firms to
publicly stop or restrict trips to South Korea after media reports last
week that Beijing had given guidance to tour operators in China to stop
selling trips to the country.
A South Korean government document seen by Reuters said China gave a
"7-point" verbal instruction to travel firms regarding a ban on trips to
South Korea. One point blocked China-based cruise ships from docking in
South Korean ports.
In a notice posted on Thursday, Royal Caribbean detailed changes to
itineraries for cruises leaving from Chinese ports. These removed visits
to South Korean destinations such as Busan, Jeju and Seoul, replacing
them with visits to sites in Japan.
The firm did not respond to requests for further comment on Thursday.
Rival cruise operators including Carnival Corp did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
The squeeze on Korean firms underlines Beijing's anger over a joint plan
by South Korea and the United States to set up the Terminal High
Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system in South Korea. Seoul and
Washington say it will defend against nuclear-armed North Korean
missiles, but Beijing says its far-reaching radar is targeted at China.
[to top of second column] |
The Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Explorer of the Seas arrives back
at Bayonne, New Jersey January 29, 2014. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
The crackdown has sent a chill across South Korea's retail and tourism
sectors, which rely heavily on China trade. Chinese shoppers are big
consumers of South Korean products from cosmetics and television dramas
to vacations and music.
The number of Chinese tourists to South Korea has nearly quadrupled to 8
million over the past five years, accounting for nearly half of foreign
visitors, Korean government data showed.
South Korea has said it will consider filing a complaint against China
to the World Trade Organization over what it described as trade
retaliation over the THAAD deployment issue.
(Reporting by Muyu Xu in BEIJING, Adam Jourdan in SHANGHAI and Hyunjoo
Jin in SEOUL; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|