{"id":777003105,"date":"2023-03-08T12:47:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T15:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777003105"},"modified":"2026-04-22T23:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:59:38","slug":"south-korea-to-drop-pre-departure-covid-19-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-korea-to-drop-pre-departure-covid-19-tests","title":{"rendered":"South Korea to drop pre-departure Covid-19 tests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pre-arrival testing for Covid-19 will no longer be required for travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Korea.- South Korean authorities have confirmed that from March 11, travellers from China, Hong Kong or Macau won&#8217;t need to undergo pre-travel Covid-19 testing. According to Korea JoonAng Daily, <strong>Lim Sook-young<\/strong>, director of the infectious disease crisis response bureau at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Covid-19 situation in China is stable with no new variants of concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, South Korea announced the end of&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-korea-lifts-post-arrival-testing-for-inbound-chinese-travellers\" target=\"_blank\">post-arrival Covid-19 tests<\/a>&nbsp;for travellers from China.&nbsp;The country<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>has also resumed&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-korea-to-resume-short-term-visas-for-chinese-visitors\" target=\"_blank\">the issuance of short-term visas<\/a>&nbsp;for Chinese travellers, while China has done the same for South Koreans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The resumption of short-term visas is expected to have a positive impact on South Korea\u2019s foreigner-only casinos. Prior to the pandemic, Chinese tourists were a major source of revenue for casinos. Of the country&#8217;s 17 casinos, only Kangwon Land is allowed to offer gambling to locals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move to end testing is seen as a step toward rekindling tourism. However, the authorities have warned that they will continue to closely monitor the Covid-19 situation and adjust measures as necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2021,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-korea-casinos-report-revenue-of-us975-39m-for-2021\" target=\"_blank\">South Korean casino revenue<\/a>&nbsp;was<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>KRW1.18tn (US$975.39m), compared to KRW1.04tn in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pre-arrival testing for Covid-19 will no longer be required for travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"South Korea has lifted pre-arrival COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, effective March 11. This policy adjustment, following the resumption of short-term visas, is anticipated to significantly boost tourism and, critically, drive revenue for South Korea's foreigner-only casino sector, which heavily relies on Chinese visitation.","focusai_entities":"Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lim Sook-young, Kangwon Land","focusai_location":"South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Casino Revenue Projections","query":"What are the revised GGR and NGR projections for South Korea's foreigner-only casinos for FY2023, considering the full resumption of Chinese tourist visitation?"},{"label":"Competitive Landscape Impact","query":"How will the resurgence of Chinese tourism to South Korea impact the competitive landscape and market share of other regional gaming jurisdictions, particularly Macau and the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23907],"class_list":["post-777003105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777003105"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777003134,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003105\/revisions\/777003134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777003105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777003105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777003105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}