Two identical vending machines in front of a store dispense lottery tickets 24/7 in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province on Saturday. Photo: IC

China will establish a "blacklist" of cross-border gambling tourism destinations, which will restrict Chinese citizens' travel to overseas cities and scenic spots on the list, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on Wednesday.

In recent years, with the increasing convenience of cross-border exchanges, the number of Chinese citizens traveling abroad has continued to grow. While this has enhanced friendly exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries and regions, some overseas cities have opened casinos to attract Chinese tourists to gamble abroad, disrupting the order of China's outbound tourism market and endangering the personal safety and property of Chinese citizens, read the announcement.

Therefore, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other departments will jointly launch a blacklist of overseas travel destinations.

According to the World Tourism Organization, a total of 149.7 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2018, spending $277.3 billion and accounting for 20 percent of global international travel expenditure. 

The number of outbound Chinese tourists increased to 155 million in 2019, up 3.3 percent over the past year, according to Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Chinese gamblers spend an estimated $145 billion a year on illegal gambling sites, much of it from the Philippines, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday, adding that online gambling is a headache for Chinese government.