ROK to offer hotel rebates to Chinese tourists  

明年起訪韓中國游客入住觀光酒店可免附加稅

據韓國亞洲經濟中文網報道，2014年1月1日起，入住韓國觀光酒店的外國游客一年可享受10%的住宿折扣。韓國政府17日發布的《觀光活躍對策》中提到了酒店附加稅的返現制度，以及減輕觀光地區業主的房產所得稅負擔等，引起業界乃至消費者的高度關注。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- South Korea plans to reimburse foreign tourists for value-added tax payments on hotel bills to attract more visitors from China and Japan, a Chinese-language website said.

From Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2014, foreign tourists will get a 10-percent rebate on hotel spending. They now pay the same value-added tax as South Koreans, it said.

For example, on a hotel bill of 330,000 South Korean won ($2,287), foreign tourists will get back 30,000 won, once they hand in the invoice to the culture, sports and tourism ministry or national tax department.

Thanks to similar measures, visitors to Canada grew by 5.8 percent from 1992 to 2006, the ministry said.

It is part of a package of tourism promotion measures unveiled in South Korea, and the government aims to raise its annual tourism revenue to $24 billion by 2017 by attracting 16 million foreign visitors to the country.