Political tensions between Beijing and Seoul have been affecting sales at South Korea's department stores: Hyundai reported a decline of 16% compared to a year ago, Lotte has said that sales from Chinese tourists have halved. Shinsegae has been less affected since Chinese tourists account for only 10% of sales. In total, the number of Chinese tourists travelling to South Korea plunged 66.4% to 255 000 in June, year on year. The Chinese government has tightened its control on tourists visiting Korea as part of its retaliation over the deployment of a US missile defence system in Seongju.