On Wednesday, Chinese online travel agency Ctrip resumed its sales of group tours to South Korea on its website. However, according to Yonhap News, it was later pulled out by the company.
In March 2017, China banned all group tours to South Korea after the installation of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System (THAAD) on its shores. The resulting ban hurt South Korea's retail and travel industry.
However, tensions had thawed in recent months with China allowing over-the-counter sales of package tours from Beijing and Shandong to South Korea in November last year. But, online sales were still not allowed.
"From this afternoon, Ctrip started selling group tours to South Korea, and Chinese authorities had signed off on them. Then, it rushed to delist those after heavy attention on Ctrip," said a tourism industry source quoted by Yonhap.
In Beijing, a senior official at a Chinese online travel agency told Reuters that the ban on online bookings remains active.
Both South Korea and the United States say that THAAD is designed to respond to the missile threat in the peninsula. However, Beijing said that the radar of the system can easily probe into its territory and threaten its security.
