Expanded country list for outbound group tours draws interest
The expansion of the list of outbound destinations for Chinese tour groups released on Thursday by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has prompted a lot of interest from tourists, with inquiries and orders flooding into travel agencies by early-bird customers, travel operators revealed.
A Shanghai resident surnamed Cao booked a 12-day group tour to Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary on Thursday noon at Shanghai Spring Tour. The departure is scheduled in November.
"I did not hesitate a second after seeing the product on WeChat Moments as these countries are my dream destinations even before the pandemic," said Cao. "I have retired and don't want to waste a second for traveling."
"The arrangement is proper and these countries are beautiful destinations," he added.
Shanghai Spring Tour has put group tour packages back on its shelves for destinations including Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Argentina.
"It is a crucial moment for the full resumption of outbound tourism and will deliver a strong boost to the resumption of international flights," said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Shanghai Spring Tour.
"Japan, South Korea, the United States, the Czech Republic and Austria are traditionally popular outbound tourist destinations of Shanghai residents," she said.
A staff member of Shanghai Spring Tour handles an order for an outbound group tour on Thursday following the notification.
Search for outbound tourist products surged over 200 percent following the announcement, with Japan and Australia the most popular destinations, Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com said.
Departure dates during the National Day holiday are favored, according to the tourist service giant.
"The expansion of the list will directly prompt travel service suppliers to accelerate the research and development of tourist products, thus further enriching the options for tourists and boosting tourism recovery," said Xie Xiaoqing, a senior researcher with the travel operator.
Trip.com said it received many inquiries on outbound products on Thursday morning.
The company is actively preparing trips to Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, the United States and India, with its first tour group heading for Japan after the pandemic expected next month, it said.
The first tour groups to Australia, Morocco and Israel are scheduled for the National Day holiday.
Travel agency staff view travel options.
Nearly 1,000 tour products and packages targeting both group and independent tourists for these destinations would be launched soon, it said.
The summer tourism market has proved to be booming as bookings of outbound tourist products among travelers on the Chinese mainland in July surged 44 percent from June, according to Trip.com.
As of August 7, the number of flights in operation for outbound destinations had resumed more than 50 percent from the same period of 2019, according to the travel operator.
Tongcheng Travel, another major online travel operator, said the inquiries about group tours to Turkey soared 1,000 percent following the announcement and visa application inquiries also surged 288 percent.
It said it had put outbound tour products to Turkey, Australia, Japan and Northern European countries back onto shelves and added some new popular seaside highway itineraries.
The travel operator forecast that the National Day holiday would witness a robust recovery of the outbound tourism market.
