The South Korean government said Tuesday it will pursue qualitative growth of the inbound tourism market from China as Beijing partially lifted its suspension of Korea-bound package tours.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it will first focus on boosting the Chinese consumers' sentiment to visit South Korea and restoring the distribution channels through aggressive marketing.

Its plan also includes giving more incentives to local travel companies dedicated to Chinese group tours that have better programs. There are currently 155 firms that are authorized to operate group tours from China in South Korea.

The renewal cycle for the certificate to run the group tours will be reduced to one year from the current two in order to eliminate low-quality programs, it added.

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