Chinese travel agencies will resume outbound group tours for the first time in almost three years from 6 February after China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a pilot scheme involving 20 foreign countries.
The 20 nations named under the pilot are Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, UAE, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba and Argentina.
According to details released by the Ministry on Friday 20 January, the new policy is aimed at promoting the recovery and development of the tourism industry, with travel agencies and online travel companies also granted permission to begin preparations for product releases, publicity and promotion effective immediately.
They will, however, be required to fulfil four specific tasks, including strengthening responsibility for the safety and interests of tourists, implementing epidemic prevention and control measures, standardizing business activities and strengthening supervision and law enforcement.
All group tours must be reported on the organizer’s relevant platform and straying from the schedule or beyond the scope of the country list is not allowed.
Travel agencies must refrain from “arranging tourists to visit or participating in projects or activities that violate the country’s laws, regulations and social morality,” and are expected to “effectively maintain the order of the tourism market.”
All travel agencies across China were ordered to suspend operations in late January 2020 in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Their impending return comes almost a month after Beijing lifted all border restrictions for arrivals from Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and lifted most restrictions on foreign visitors other than provision of a negative COVID test result.
