South Korea plans to adopt a new tourism rule that allows foreign cruise travelers to land in the country for a short stay without a visa as part of efforts to boost inflows of foreign tourists, the Justice Ministry said Friday.

   The ministry made public the plan to revise its immigration control law in order to permit overseas tourists coming to the country on cruises to land here and stay for up to three days without a visa.

   The new regulation is expected to especially boost visits of Chinese tourists, who usually complain about the difficulty in receiving visas for Korea.

   "The ministry has decided to push aggressively to adopt the rule as the global cruise market shows a sharp growth rate," a ministry official said.

   Included in the revision plan is also a program to provide long-term foreign residents with necessary information needed to live in the country, which aims to step up efforts to help smoothly integrate expatriates into society.

Source: Yonhap News (July 1, 2011)