Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Notice on the Pilot Resumption of Travel Agencies to Operate Chinese Citizens' Outbound Group Tours to Relevant Countries (Second Batch)", starting from March 15, 2023, the pilot resumption of national travel agencies and online travel companies operating in China Citizens go to relevant countries (the second batch) for outbound group tourism and "air ticket + hotel" business.
This batch includes 40 countries, plus the 20 countries that were resumed in the first batch of pilot programs, the current number of destinations for Chinese outbound group tours has increased to 60 countries.
The second batch of pilot recovery countries include: Nepal, Brunei, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran, Jordan, Tanzania, Namibia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Serbia, Croatia, France, Greece, Spain, Iceland, Albania, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Slovenia, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Panama, Dominica, El Salvador, Dominica, Bahamas.
Xu Xiaolei, chief brand officer of CYTS, told reporters: "The gradual, orderly, and steady opening up of the outbound travel market is in line with the characteristics of the industry's recovery in the current environment and is conducive to ensuring the safety and experience of tourists' travel. At the moment when the tourism industry is recovering rapidly, the second batch of pilot projects Once again, it brings policy benefits to the industry."
After the news was released, the popularity of outbound travel rose rapidly, and the number of hits on the same-trip outbound travel-related topic pages instantly increased by 77%, and the number of tourist visa consultations for relevant countries also increased rapidly, with an instantaneous increase of more than 4 times.
The data shows that among the second batch of open destination countries for outbound tourism, Chinese tourists pay more attention to Vietnam, Italy, Serbia, France and Spain.
According to the person in charge of Tongcheng Travel, relevant group tour products are under intensive preparation, and more outbound group tours and "flight + wine" outbound travel products will be launched after March 15.
According to the person in charge of Zhongxin Tourism, the number of daily telephone consultations in the call center has recently doubled.
Zhongxin Tourism is stepping up preparations for various routes for the second batch of destination countries. The products currently on display have distinct themes, including an in-depth tour of Iranian culture, an in-depth tour of Spain, an in-depth tour of France, and a round-the-island tour of Iceland, etc., without shopping in the whole process , No self-payment, and special experiences such as national parks, sunset hotels, seafood meals, and Real Madrid's home stadium have also been added to meet the diversified and flexible needs of tourists.
According to Cheng Chaogong, the chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, after the announcement of the second batch of pilot programs, the number of destination countries for outbound group tours will reach 60, and many tourism routes in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the South Pacific can be better connected, which will attract more tourists .
In addition, with the increase of international flights, the air ticket prices of domestic outbound flights have also continued to decline. It is expected that the outbound travel market will usher in a substantial increase during the "May 1st" holiday and summer vacation.