South Korea's finance minister said Thursday the country will make efforts to take advantage of the latest decision by Beijing to allow group tours to the country.

"In response to the resumption of group tours to South Korea by China, we plan to promptly come up with measures to attract Chinese tourists by offering conveniences in terms of visas and transportation, as well as by developing various tourism programs," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said.

The remark came after China's tourism authorities said last week they have decided to lift the ban on group tours to South Korea, ending a six-year hiatus caused by frayed relations following the deployment of a US defense system here.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said it will allow Chinese group tours to 78 countries, including South Korea, the United States and Japan.

In January and March, China removed the group ban on some 60 countries in line with its eased coronavirus policy, but South Korea was excluded.

Over the January-June period of 2023, the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea came to 546,000, just around 20 percent of the 2.8 million tallied in the first half of 2019. (Yonhap)