The Justice Ministry announced Tuesday a set of measures to ease visa regulations for Chinese tourists in an attempt to raise numbers from the present 1.3 million per year to 3 million by 2012.

The new system, allowing double visas and alleviating the prerequisites of multiple-entry visas, will take effect this Sunday, according to the ministry’s immigration office.

Elementary, middle and high school teachers, retired pensioners and graduates of prestigious universities will be granted a multiple entry visa, with which they may enter and exit Korea freely for a year.

Under the present system, the convenient multiple entry visa is only authorized to those who hold permanent residency in an OECD state or a platinum or gold level credit card.

Leading social groups such as lawyers, doctors and professors are also given the benefit.

“All those who enter the country legally and who possess a sufficient level of purchasing power may benefit from the double visa system,” said a ministry official.

The validity term of multiple visas will also be extended from one year to three years.

Family members of Chinese nationals who already hold a valid visa here are to be exempted from the visa inspection processes.

Airports will also equip themselves with automatic immigration inspection systems and exclusive desks for group tourists, together with the foreigners’ fingerprint identification system to start this September, said officials.

“In addition to the simplified visa system or immigration processes, we will also cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on expanding the accommodation facilities and developing attractive tourist items,” said Seok Dong-hyeon, head of the immigration office.

The number of Chinese nationals entering the country has steeply increased over the years -- from 585,569 in 2005, 1.01 million in 2008 and to 1.21 million last year, according to the ministry.

Among the 23.6 million people who entered the country in the first half of this year, the number of Chinese nationals showed a 38 percent leap from the same period last year.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldm.com)