--FILE--clients, qui sont pour la plupart des Chinois, lors d'une boutique Duty Free Store Lotte à Séoul, Corée du Sud, 23 juillet 2012. L'industrie du tourisme de Corée du Sud a
--FILE--Customers, most of whom are Chinese, shop at a Lotte Duty Free Store in Seoul, South Korea, 23 July 2012. South Korea's tourism industry has been hit hard by the country's ongoing conflict with China over the installation of the US-backed THAAD missile defense system with visitor numbers from its giant neighbor plunging by 40% in March. Early that month, China began banning tourist agencies from sending tour groups to South Korea, causing flights and cruises between the two countries to be cut. In one particularly sensational incident, 3, 400 Chinese tourists simply refused to set foot on South Korean soil after their cruise ship docked at the resort island of Jeju -- once one of the world's top destinations for Chinese tourists. According to the latest statistics from the Korea Tourism Organization, only 360, 000 Chinese tourists visited the country in March, compared to over 600, 000 the year before. Overall, visitor numbers dropped by 11%.
