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Love-hate relationships: How some countries view China’s tour groups

An All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) employee, left, escorts a group of Chinese tourists and a tour conductor, right, at the arrival lobby of Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. China lifted a ban on group tours this month to a slew of countries including the US, UK, Australia, South Korea and Japan, in a major test of demand for overseas travel from what was once the world’s biggest source of tourists. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

An All Nippon Airways employee (left) escorts a group of Chinese tourists, at the arrival lobby of Haneda Airport in Tokyo, on Aug 23.

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Wendy Teo

Walter Sim

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Jonathan Pearlman

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SEOUL/TOKYO/SYDNEY – Love them or hate them, Chinese youke (tourists) have become such a huge economic force that some countries have coined terms to describe

their generous spending

South Koreans refer to them as “keunson”, which literally means large hands or big spenders. The Japanese use the word “bakugai” (explosive buying) to refer to the Chinese shopping sprees.

Love-hate relationships: How some countries view China’s tour groups

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