China on Thursday lifted a ban on group travel in more than 70 countries, including the United States, in place since the health crisis, raising hopes that numbers of Chinese tourists will return abroad. This measure has already worried France since March, thanks to a previous lifting of restrictions on organized trips.
Since then, the decision “has played a positive role in promoting exchanges and cooperation in tourism,” welcomed the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, with the publication of this new list of countries that includes Japan, South Korea South, India, UK or even Turkey. Canada, which has a difficult relationship with China, is not included.
First country in the world in terms of tourists sent abroad before Covid
China closed its borders in 2020 to guard against Covid-19, then imposed lengthy and costly quarantines on arrival to deter returns to the country. The Chinese were banned from traveling abroad for three years, except for compelling reasons. But this ban was fully lifted at the beginning of the year and Chinese tourists traveling individually can go wherever they want.
Before the pandemic, China was the first country in the world in terms of tourists sent abroad, with some 155 million registered departures in 2019, according to the McKinsey consultancy. China resumed issuing tourist visas to foreigners in March. But arrivals in the country are only a fraction of pre-pandemic levels.
Source: BFM TV
