60 countries selected for China outbound group travel

发布日期:2023-04-07 11:23
Chinese tourist are traveling again. The market project China outbound travel to reach about 100 million this year and inject over USD$200 billion to global tourism. 

China National Immigration Administration resumed normal passport application processing from 8 January 2023, including passports needed for the purpose of tourism and visit friends and relatives travel. Mainland China border with Hong Kong reopened on 8 January 2023, with high-speed train services resuming on 15 January. As of 6 February, the mainland-Hong Kong-Macau border has been reopened completely, back to pre pandemic.

China resumed outbound group tours to another 40 countries and regions from 15 March 2023, bringing the total number of outbound group tour destinations to 60, according to a release by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is the second batch of destinations in China's pilot program for outbound group tours after the country resumed cross-border group tours to the first batch of 20 countries and regions on Feb. 6 after the COVID-19 control policies were relaxed.

The Second batch of 40 countries:
  • Asia: Brunei, Nepal, Vietnam, Mongolia, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan
  • Europe: Albania, Croatia, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain 
  • Africa: Namibia, Mauritius, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
  • North America: Bahamas, Dominica, El Salvador, Dominica, Panama
  • South America: Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
  • Oceania: Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu

China's outbound travel has seen a rapid rebound in the month since the country resumed cross-border group tours on February 6, with more passenger trips and increased flight capacity. Also, more destination countries are welcoming the return of Chinese tourists, an important driver of their economic recovery.

Significant increase has been seen in the number of outbound passenger flights. According to data sent to the Global Times by VariFlight, a data information provider, the weekly number of outbound flights increased to over 1,700 passenger trips from February 27 to March 5, a rise of nearly 30 percent compared to the first week of cross-border group resumption. Trips to Thailand from the Chinese mainland have seen the most significant rise, with more than 100 percent growth or up to 30 passenger trips being made on a daily basis over the past month.  

The First batch of 20 countries:
  • Asia:  Indonesia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Maldives, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates
  • Europe: Hungary, Russia, Switzerland
  • Africa: Egypt, Kenya, South Africa
  • Oceania: Fiji, New Zealand
  • North America: Cuba
  • South America: Argentina

Source: Ministry of Culture and Tourism