Passengers prepare to check in at Beijing Daxing International Airport on April 16, 2021. Photo: cnsphoto

Tourism bureaus in multiple overseas countries and regions have expressed their welcoming of travelers from China as Chinese authorities announced on Monday that quarantine for inbound international arrivals would be removed from January 8, 2023.

On Chinese Twitter-liked social media Sina Weibo, the official accounts of 10 tourism authorities of France, New Zealand, Austria, Poland, Canada, Thailand, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Dubai and Scotland, and the London North Eastern Railway posted promotional material for their domestic tourism sites expressing that they welcome Chinese tourists to visit their countries and regions in 2023.

Since China's new international travel policies were unveiled on Monday evening, search and booking volumes for cross-border flight tickets and hotels have reached the highest level in the last three years across various online travel agency platforms, the Global Times learned.

However, industry observers said although the first international travel peak will be around the 2023 Spring Festival holidays in the middle of January, the high water mark for outbound travel may take place during the May Day holidays and summer months of 2023, which is expected to surpass the normal levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global Times