CRI's Lucy Du explains.

 

　　The bride sits patiently as her makeup is applied and her tiara fixed in place.

 

　　After choosing the South Korean company to shoot their pre-wedding photo online, Yang Candi and her fiance have travelled to Seoul from their home in China.

 

　　"In China, the photo shoots are more likely to be in traditional Chinese style or European style. Compared to those, South Korean photo studios are very simple and express their own stories. So it was unique."

 

　　These photo shoots are big business for South Korea's 15-billion US dollar wedding industry.

 

　　It's also a sign of the rising purchasing power of Chinese people, whose exposure to South Korean pop culture brings them to Seoul with high expectations.

 

　　The service normally costs between 2 to 4-thousand dollars US.

 

　　Lee Su-sun is Deputy Director of Partner Relationship Management at "iWedding", a prominent South Korean wedding planner hosting Chinese tourists.

 

　　"Our Chinese customers coming to Seoul total around 40 to 50 couples per month, and those going to Jeju island total 20 to 30 couples per month on average."

 

　　He adds that strict Chinese visa regulations means that normally only the elite can afford to travel.

 

　　Song Sung-uk, professor of South Korean pop culture studies at the Catholic University of Korea says this is an economic effect that has - in part - been generated through South Korean soap operas.

 

　　"I think self-empathy and envy of Chinese people towards a wedding or a romantic relationship that appeared in South Korean soap operas, leading to a very happy family, naturally led to wedding photo shoots in South Korea. This is an economic effect on tourism that South Korean soap operas have created."

 

　　South Korean wedding planners cater primarily to domestic couples.

 

　　But there are some companies, such as iWedding, which are hoping to further tap the Chinese market.

 

　　South Korea's tourism ministry estimates more than 2.5 million Chinese tourists spent an average of 21-hundred-50 US dollars per person, per trip to South Korea last year, which is more than any other nationality.

 

　　For CRI, this is Lucy.