Sudden drop in Thai tourists to South Korea... Anti-Korean sentiment due to stricter immigration controls?

The number of Thai tourists visiting Korea has been declining for seven consecutive months. Thailand, which once ranked first among Southeast Asian countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting Korea, has now dropped to fifth place.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization on the 30th, the number of Thai tourists who visited Korea last month was 20,150, down 19.5% from the same month last year.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Korea in June was 1.417 million, down from the previous year's figure of 1.417 million. This is the seventh consecutive month of decline since December last year. Among the major destinations for tourists to Korea, Thailand was the only one to see a decline of around 20%.
This is a 47.5% increase from the same month in 2016. Israel (down 11.4%) and New Zealand (down 12.4%), which are at war, showed double-digit declines. However, New Zealand saw an increase in May.
The number of Thai tourists visiting Korea in June was 47,323 from Vietnam, 44,891 from the Philippines, and 34,134 from Singapore.
Thailand was ranked first among Southeast Asian countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting Korea, behind Korea (29,137 people), Indonesia (29,137 people), and Thailand (29,137 people).
In 2019, there were 572,000 tourists to Thailand, more than Vietnam (554,000) and the Philippines (504,000). Thailand is experiencing a boom in K-pop, K-TV series, and K-movies.
However, problems with the Korean Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) system began to emerge last year, and the number of Thai tourists began to decline.
Introduced in September 2021, the K-ETA is a system whereby nationals of 112 visa-exempt countries can submit information online and receive entry permission before entering Korea.
The strict screening of Thai people has led to an increase in refusals of entry and the spread of anti-Korean sentiment. The reason for the increase in refusals of entry to Thai tourists is that Thailand is the country with the largest number of illegal immigrants in Korea.
This is not unrelated. There are many cases of illegal immigrants being involved in serious crimes such as drug and sex crimes. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has requested the Ministry of Justice to continue with the K-ETA program until the end of the year in order to attract Thai tourists.
A Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry official said, "We are promoting educational trips and other programs to students under the age of 17, who do not need to apply for a K-ETA.
To that end, we are continuing to promote the product using Thai influencers and other means."