CHINA is easing restrictions on group travel further, now allowing groups of its citizens to visit the United States, Australia, South Korea, Japan and other nations.

The decision was announced by China’s culture and tourism ministry Thursday, effective immediately. The easing applies to all travel agencies and online platforms across the country, it said.

Germany and Britain were also among the countries for which restrictions were lifted.

It was the third list of countries to receive approvals. The first batch approved in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch in March included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, Chinese mainland tourists spent more than any other country’s tourists when abroad, clocking up a combined US$255 billion in 2019 with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60% of that.

Their absence since the pandemic has led to financial troubles for many tourism-dependent businesses around the globe.

“It’s a milestone for the full resumption of the outbound travel, and will also strongly push the resumption of international flights, especially for Japan, Korea, the United States,” said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager at Spring Tour.

The recovery in China’s international aviation market has also been slow. Domestic flight capacity has reached 17% above pre-pandemic level in July, but international capacity is still about half of 2019 level, data from aviation analytics company Cirium show.   (SD-Agencies)