China will resume outbound group tours to another 40 countries and regions from March 15.
According to data from the National Immigration Administration showed that the number of inbound and outbound travelers has rebounded significantly since the implementation of the the Category B disease for two months, border inspection agencies across China saw 39.722 million entry and exit trips by March 7, up 112.4% year-on-year; the number of inbound and outbound travelers reached 1.013 million on February 25, the first time since 2020 that the number exceeded one million in a single day.
As China's overseas tourism industry has been on a firm trajectory of quick recovery during the past month, the move to expand the number of destinations comes as more countries are hoping for the return of Chinese tourists to shore up a post-virus economic rebound.
On March 10th, the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the PRC announced a notice on the pilot resumption of travel agencies operating outbound group tours for Chinese citizens to relevant countries (second batch), announcing that from March 15th, China will open outbound group tours and “air + hotel” business to the second batch of 40 countries.
The 40 countries in the second batch span Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania and Latin America, and will bring the total number of countries and regions in the pilot program to 60 from March 15.
The Second Batch of 40 Countries
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Asia: Nepal, Brunei, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia
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Europe: Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, France, Greece, Spain, Iceland, Albania, Italy, Denmark, Portugal
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Africa: Tanzania, Namibia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal
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North America: Panama, Dominica, El Salvador, Dominica, Bahamas
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South America: Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
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Oceania: Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa
Since the list released, the number of clicks on major OTA platforms skyrocketed. According to Fliggy, the number of international ticket searches increased by 185% within one hour of the policy's release. Ctrip data showed that the search volume of some countries increased by more than 300% compared with the previous day. Data from Tongcheng Travel showed that the number of clicks on outbound travel-related pages instantly increased by 77%, and the number of inquiries for tourist visas to relevant countries instantly increased by more than 4 times.
Among the second batch of outbound tourist destinations released by China, Chinese tourists are most interested in Vietnam, Italy, Serbia, France and Spain. Compared to the first batch of pilot outbound group tour destinations, this time more European tourist destination countries have been released. The attention to European countries for tourism has also risen rapidly.
The First Batch of 20 Countries
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Asia: Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, United Arab Emirates
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Europe: Russia, Switzerland, Hungary
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Africa: Egypt, Kenya, South Africa
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Oceania: New Zealand, Fiji
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North America: Cuba
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South America: Argentina
Sources: Ministry of Culture and Tourism, National Immigration Administration and OTA data
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