China to resume group tours to 40 countries from tomorrow

Destinations including Vietnam, Spain, Denmark and Nepal.

China.- China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that China will resume outbound group tours to 40 countries from tomorrow (March 15). Travel agencies and portals are now permitted to sell and promote group tour products to destinations including Vietnam, Spain, Denmark and Nepal.

The move comes after China resumed group tours to 20 countries and regions, including Thailand, Russia, and Singapore, from February 6.

The ministry will require travel agencies to remind travellers of personal health precautions before embarking on tours. Authorities say they will strengthen their supervision of outbound tourism to prevent the operation of tours with implausibly low prices or those that organise events violating social morality.

The news had been well-received by the authorities in Vietnam, one of the countries included in the list, as China was its primary source market for tourism industry prior to the pandemic. In 2019, almost 30 per cent of foreign visitors to Vietnam were Chinese, with 5.8 million arrivals, while 4.5 million Vietnamese visited China. Of Vietnam’s casinos, only one is open to locals.

Last November, Vietnam and China agreed to collaborate on various law enforcement issues, including combating “cross-border gambling.”