People living in China will once again be allowed to travel in groups to several destinations around the world including Belgium, after a ban on such trips was lifted.
China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry announced on Thursday that it will lift the ban on group travel for Chinese tourists which had been in place since the pandemic. The decision again makes travel in groups possible to more than 70 additional countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Sweden and Middle East nations like Qatar, Oman, Lebanon and Israel. Belgium is also on the list.
However Canada, which has strained relations with China, is not on the list. South Korea was included, meaning it will be the first time in six years that China allows group tours to the country having banned them in 2017 in response to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea.
Gradual return
Before the pandemic, China had the highest number of tourists travelling abroad. In 2019, 155 million Chinese left the country for tourism purposes. Chinese tourists are once again expected to revisit foreign countries in large numbers.
China closed its borders in 2020 in the fight against Covid-19. It then imposed long and costly quarantines on arrival, which were supposed to deter travel back to the country. For three years, the Chinese were banned from travelling abroad except in exceptional circumstances.
Earlier this year, the ban was lifted completely for Chinese tourists travelling individually, allowing them to go wherever they wanted, while group tours were previously allowed again for countries such as France and Switzerland.
In March, China also resumed issuing tourist visas to foreigners, but the number of people from abroad arriving in China to travel is far from pre-pandemic levels.
