China Lifts Covid-Era Ban, Resumes Group Tour

Beijing has lifted a Covid-era ban on outbound group tours to dozens of countries including the United States and Japan.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism revealed this on Thursday, in a statement issued.

Recall that China had in 2020 cut itself off from the world as part of a strict zero-Covid strategy, using visa suspensions and lengthy quarantines to reduce the import of virus cases into the country.

According to the statement, travel agencies across the country and online travel companies will resume operating outbound group tours to more than 70 countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea.

Earlier this year, the Chinese tour group got permission to visit a small number of countries under a trial programme, including tourist magnets Thailand, Italy and France.

The tourism ministry said outbound tourism had been growing in a stable manner since the beginning of the trial period, “playing a positive role in promoting tourism exchanges and cooperation”.