Korea opens visa application center in Philippines amidst travel surge

The Philippines continues to see a surge in travel with South Korea, opening a new Korea Visa Application Center in Taguig City in order to handle the volume of requests.

According to the Philippine News Agency, the KVAC โ€˜will receive the applications for all visa types and release the issued visas and passports that have been reviewed by the Korean Embassy in Manilaโ€™.

The shift in services to the new center will โ€˜allow the embassy to focus on screening and simplifying the application process for Filipinos and the Korean community in Manilaโ€™.

The opening also coincides with a new Korean tourism campaign for this and next year entitled โ€œVisit Korea Yearโ€.

In 2019, some 2.54 million Korean and Filipino nationals traveled between the two nations. In the first six months of this year, this already recovered to 1 million, a 4.7-fold increase from 1H22. Expectations are for the travel to even surpass pre-pandemic levels.

Aside from domestic demand, Korean punters have been essential in the nationโ€™s gross gaming revenue recovery post-pandemic, with particular focus on the high-end segment.

Korea only allows local gambling at one casino โ€“ Kangwon Land.