Seoul, March 5 South Korean tourists in the Middle East are gradually returning home in the wake of escalating tensions in the region, travel industry sources said on Thursday.
According to industry officials, more than 400 tourists from major travel agencies had been staying in Dubai as of Wednesday, including about 150 customers of Hana Tour, some 190 customers of Mode Tour and around 70 from Yellow Balloon Tour, reports Yonhap news agency.
Hana Tour said 40 customers left Dubai earlier in the day and are scheduled to arrive in South Korea later Thursday. Mode Tour has also arranged an alternative flight for 39 customers, who are expected to arrive at Incheon International Airport also later in the day.
Following the arrivals, around 330 South Korean tourists are still expected to remain in Dubai. Tourists in other Middle Eastern countries are apparently returning home without major issues, according to the companies.
A Hana Tour official said its group tourists currently in Cairo are returning home without disruption, while a Yellow Balloon Tour official said the company is arranging alternative flights for its customers in Cairo and Amman, Jordan, for later this week.
Meanwhile, the chief policymaker of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday warned that South Korea's exports to the Middle East could be tanked due to a widening US-Israeli strike on Iran, saying that measures are being prepared to cope with a longer-than-expected geopolitical crisis in the region.
Rep. Han Jeoung-ae, chair of the National Assembly's policy committee, made the remarks at a meeting with DP lawmakers from relevant parliamentary committees, noting that the escalating conflict could affect South Korean exports to major Middle Eastern countries, which reached about 200 trillion won (US$136.7 billion) last year.
"We cannot ignore the possibility that projects in the Middle East worth about 100 trillion won, which our companies have developed as future growth engines, including smart cities, nuclear power plants and artificial intelligence data centers, could be delayed or even scrapped," she said.
Han added that the government is preparing a 100 trillion-won market stabilisation programme amid mounting geopolitical concerns triggered by U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran last week.
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