Chinese tourists are stranded in small rooms with nothing but plastic flooring and electrical outlets in this undated photo provided by tourists. [Photo: The Beijing News]

South Korea didn't take any measure to restrict Chinese tourists, says an official from the country's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Tuesday.

Over a hundred Chinese tourists were denied entry into South Korea's Jeju Island and were stranded at the airport during the week-long Chinese National Day holiday from October 1-7.

Huang Myung-sun, head of the ministry's Tourism Policy Office, said that Chinese tourists don't need a visa to visit Jeju Island but they do need to fill in application forms for entry. They also need to give detailed information including hotel names and travelling itineraries when inspected, said Huang.

Huang said as more and more Chinese tourists choose to visit Jeju Island by themselves, it is inevitable that some of them are denied entry because such required information is not presented due to tourists' lack of knowledge about the visa-free policy details.

The tourism ministry has realized that such situations happen because they haven't provided enough instructions and explanations to Chinese visitors, said Huang. The ministry has planned to hold explanation sessions to travel agencies and tourists in China through its embassies and Korea Tourism Organization.

The South Korean media reported recently that locals of Jeju Island hope the government will abolish the visa-free policy due to two criminal cases, one of which is a murder case, related to Chinese tourists. Huang said individual crimes don't have much relationship with the visa-free policy and the government didn't discuss the issue.

Jeju Island is the only area in South Korea that Chinese citizens can visit without a visa, and can stay for 30 days.

The island started its visa-free policy to tourists 15 years ago. Since then, some 3 million tourists have visited, 99 percent of which are Chinese.

However, statistics show that the proportion of visitors denied entry has increased in recent years, with over 1,000 visitors denied entry every month during this year alone.