Chinese passengers are welcomed by Thai officials at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan, Thailand, Jan. 9, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

 
As China sets to resume pilot outbound group tours to a total of 20 countries starting from February 6, travel agencies have begun ramping up efforts preparing their first overseas trips, rolling out all relevant products and routes, meanwhile liaising with travel bureaus of each destination to discuss detailed arrangements.

After the introduction of the new policy, searches for overseas destinations on Mafengwo, a prominent online travel platform in China, saw a sharp hit increase of more than 300 percent, with Thailand as the most popular destination for Chinese tourists with a 350 percent increase. Searches for resort hotels in Thailand saw a rise of 200 percent, with Bangkok and Chiang Mai's instant search volume ranking the highest.

"To embrace this day, we have prepared for three years," Jiang Wen, CEO of Ctrip, a major travel agency in the country, said on Friday.

Right after the announcement of the resumption of overseas tour groups, searches for relevant products on Ctrip website surged by five times than usual, prompting the hit of overseas destinations rising by 330 percent, with Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia having the highest search volume, Global Times learned from Ctrip on Saturday.

From data collected at Ctrip's offline platforms, the number of inquiries for outbound group tours has risen more than 10 times year-on-year since December 27 last year, the Global Times has learned.

Nearly a hundred tour group products have been rolled out a few hours after Friday's announcement, intended for various types of groups including family trips, private trips and semi-self-guided trips among others.

ECWalk, a subsidiary under a state-owned integrated business enterprise, said that the company has released all relevant itineraries in no time and is working closely with travel bureaus of various countries as well as airlines and hotels to coordinate on detailed arrangements.

The recovery of outbound group tours is a "booster" to accelerate the recovery of the tourism industry, noted Zhao Wenzhi, CEO of ECWalk, The Paper reported on Friday. With more overseas flights and further reopening of travel destinations, the development of the tourism market in China is expected to enter the "fast track" in the first half of 2023, Zhao said.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on Friday that Chinese travel agencies and online travel companies will resume pilot outbound group tours to a total of 20 countries starting from February 6. Companies can release and launch products, promotions and other preparation work starting on Friday per the notice.

The 20 destinations include Southeast Asian nations like Thailand and Indonesia. South Africa, Russia, New Zealand and Argentina are also listed destinations for the pilot group tours.

Analysts noted that the pilot program for resumption of the outbound group tours is a milestone for China after nearly three years of suspension, and represents the nation's boosted confidence in its implementation of pandemic prevention measures after it has optimized and entered a new phase of COVID responses.