China expands its permission for guided tours of its nationals to 40 more countries, including Spain

March 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Chinese Government has announced this Friday the expansion of its permission for guided group visits of its nationals to 40 more countries, in addition to the 20 initially announced on February 6, including Spain, France, Greece, Italy or Brazil.

The opening will begin on March 15, as announced by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism in a statement collected by the state newspaper ‘Global Times’, and represents another step in the country’s tourism recovery, particularly for trips to the abroad, after years of restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It should be noted, however, that countries such as South Korea, Japan, Australia or the United States, some of them favorites of the Chinese population for their tourist trips abroad, are still not part of the 60 countries included so far due to their particular restrictions on visits by Chinese citizens, especially after the latest spike in coronavirus cases that China suffered at the end of last year.

Shortly after the news broke, international flight ticket sales have skyrocketed by almost 200 percent across the country, according to estimates by Fliggy, the travel platform of Chinese business giant Alibaba.

Experts consulted by the Chinese newspaper expect Chinese tourism abroad to rebound this year to 60 percent of 2019 levels, while the return of guided tours by Chinese citizens abroad could add almost 200,000 million euros more to the coffers of international tourism, add the sources of the newspaper ‘Financial Times’.