China opens up more destinations for outbound group tourism

China is resuming outbound group tourism to destinations including Japan, South Korea, Australia, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Thursday. The news cheered China’s outbound tour operators, which had been struggling with pandemic-induced border closures for more than three years in 2020 until China finally COVID-19 restrictions lifted.

“This is a milestone in the full recovery of outbound travel, and it will also strongly promote the recovery of international flights, especially flights from Japan, South Korea, and the United States.” Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Shanghai Spring Tour Travel Agency, said. Located in the Spring Group. In the first quarter, China Travel Agency received a total of 318,600 outbound tourists, among which Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore were popular destinations for outbound travel. Although in terms of number of tourists, outbound tourism only accounts for 1.58% of the overall tourism market, official data shows.

After being approved in January and March this year, the list of the third batch of outbound group tourism destinations was officially released. The first batch includes 20 countries including Thailand, Russia, Cuba, and Argentina, and the second batch includes 40 countries including Nepal, France, Portugal, and Brazil. Shares of South Korean companies that are more affected by China’s travel demand surged on the news.

It is the first time group tours from China have been allowed since the government unofficially restricted sales of group tours to South Korea in 2016 following a dispute over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, two South Korean tourism industry sources told Reuters. China has never publicly acknowledged such restrictions.

Shares of casino operators Grand Korean Leisure and Paradise rose 21 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively, as casinos catered to foreign tourists. Shares in cosmetics companies such as AmorePacific Group and Cosmax and retailers such as Shinsegae 069960.KS> rose on hopes of higher sales from Chinese tourists.

(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)