BEIJING: China announced last Thursday the resumption of group tours to another 78 countries, including popular destinations such as Japan, Britain, the United States and Australia.
The announcement led to a surge in inquiries made to travel agencies, which quickly added new travel options to these countries.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry said in a notice that starting last Thursday, travel agencies and online travel companies can resume group travel services to the 78 destinations.
China had resumed outbound group tours to 60 countries in February and March.
Since the trial resumption of outbound group travel for Chinese citizens, the overall outbound tourism market has remained stable and well-organised, playing a positive role in tourism exchanges and cooperation, the notice said.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, China had the largest outbound tourism market in the world, with 169 million trips made that year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
With international passenger flights continuing to resume and more Chinese people ready to travel overseas, China has decided to resume outbound group tours to more countries, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement last Thursday.
The statement advised outbound tourists to prepare well before their journey, and stay safe and healthy as they travel. Government departments concerned will provide businesses in the tourism sector with the necessary guidance, it added.
Online travel services provider Trip.com Group reported a more than 20-fold increase in outbound travel inquiries following the announcement, particularly for the weeklong National Day holiday in October.
The company, buoyed by the announcement, quickly introduced nearly 1,000 new travel products. As outbound group travel offers increase, the costs are expected to decrease, and prices are likely to become more affordable, it said.
The number of outbound tourism bookings made by Trip.com users on the Chinese mainland surged by 44% between June and July.
Popular destinations include Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Macao.
Meanwhile, the number of weekly international flights so far this month has rebounded to more than 50% compared with the same period in 2019, and ticket prices have dropped by 80% compared with the same period last year, figures from Trip.com showed. — China Daily/ANN
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