Of 17 casinos, one is open to nationals
A possible decline in Chinese tourism to South Korea could be the prime cause of a drop in share values for Paradise Co. Ltd. and Grand Korea Leisure Co., both of which operate foreigners-only gaming halls in the country.
According to GGRAsia, like many Asia-Pacific jurisdictions, South Korea relies on Chinese tourists to support its 17 casinos. Only one casino in the country is open to South Korean nationals. The remaining 16 are wholly reliant on foreigners.
Last week, the two Korea Exchange-listed companies saw shares decline in value. Paradise Co. Ltd. was down 5.02 percent. Grand Korea Leisure Co. Ltd. shares dropped 6.80 percent.
Bloomberg News attributed the slump to a “pessimistic” report on the outlook for Chinese tourism to South Korea based on comments by Kim Yeong Ju of the Korea Tourism Organization in Seoul. He said Chinese authorities have ordered Chinese travel agents to limit inexpensive travel packages to South Korea from November 2016 to April 2017. JoongAng Ilbo, a Seoul newspaper, reported that Chinese travel have been told to cut those packages by more than 20 percent.
Those orders have also been linked to South Korea’s decision to deploy the U.S.-supplied Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system and come as China cracks down on Crown Resorts employees who were peddling junkets to Australia inside the mainland borders.
Chinese tourists made up 48 percent of arrivals in South Korea for the month of September. In 2015 the country received a total of 13.2 million visitors of all nationalities, producing aggregate tourism receipts of approximately US$15.2 billion according to the KTO.
