The visa waiver for arrivals from Japan, Taiwan and Macao has been extended to Oct. 31. The photo above is of crowds of travelers on June 30 at the departure gate of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport. (Yonhap News)

By Kang Gahui

The visa waiver for arrivals from Japan, Taiwan and Macao adopted last month has been extended to Oct. 31.

The announcement came on Sept. 1 at the 102nd conference on the evaluation of overseas arrivals with related government branches like the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Adopted on Aug. 4 for this year's Seoul Festa, the visa waiver led to a 97% increase from Aug. 1-21 in the average number of daily arrivals from Japan and Taiwan from the same period in July.

The scheduled concert by K-pop group BTS for Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo is among major events slated for the peak season of this month and the next. Thus the city governments of Seoul and Busan and the tourism sector discussed extending visa-free entry for arrivals from Japan, Taiwan and Macao.

With the extension as a catalyst, the Culture Ministry plans more aggressive tourism marketing to raise the number of overseas visitors.

kgh89@korea.kr