Escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula are likely to have a greater impact on tourism than anti-Korea sentiment recently sparked by a dispute at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, a travel agent said yesterday.
If the conflict between the two Koreas were to become more serious, tour groups would be less likely to travel to Northeast Asia, said Ma Yi-long (馬一龍), director of the Kaohsiung Association of Travel Agents.
Despite public outrage sparked by the disqualification of Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) at the Asian Games on Nov. 17, after which some Taiwanese directed their anger at South Korea, major travel agencies have said that their South Korea-related businesses are not being affected.
However, the travel industry is monitoring developments on the Korean Peninsula, Ma said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday raised South Korea’s travel alert to gray, the lowest on its four-scale system.
At a separate setting, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) condemned North Korea for Tuesday’s attack.
“We condemn North Korea,” Ma said in his capacity as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, when asked to comment on the situation during a visit to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall yesterday morning.
Ma led top party officials to pay tribute to the party’s founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) in celebration of the KMT’s 116th anniversary.
On Tuesday evening Ma chaired a small national security meeting at the Presidential Office and asked related agencies to take a cautious look at the shelling incident.
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