As the number of Chinese tourists to South Korea dwindles, the Korea Tourism Organization on Wednesday revealed ways to revitalize domestic tourism.
 
To cope with China's economic retaliation over the THAAD deployment, the tourism agency has come up with various marketing schemes to turn the demand for overseas trips toward domestic trips. 
 
The organization plans to work with local governments to raise discount rates for tourism destinations and launch campaigns on expanding vacations.
 
The organization will also use part of its budget, initially allocated to attract Chinese tourists, toward diversifying tourism markets and will aim to attract eleven-point-two million non-Chinese tourists this year, higher than last year's target of nine million.
 
According to the tourism agency, the number of Chinese tourists that visited South Korea in the first quarter slid nine-point-one percent compared to the same period last year. In March alone, that figure plunged more than 39 percent.
 
Between March 16th and April ninth, the number of Chinese tourists that visited South Korea plummeted nearly 64 percent while the number of overall foreign tourists fell 21 percent. March 16th is around the time China began to take retaliatory steps in earnest against Seoul in protest of THAAD.