BEIJING - China is resuming outbound group tours to destinations including Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United States, its Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Thursday.

The news cheered China’s outbound travel operators, which have struggled since 2020 with more than three years of pandemic-induced border closures before Beijing finally dropped Covid-19 curbs late in 2022.

“It is a milestone for the full resumption of outbound travel and will also strongly push the resumption of international flights, especially for Japan, Korea and the US,” said Ms Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager at Spring Tour, the travel arm of Shanghai-based Spring Group.

In the first quarter, Chinese tourism agencies recorded 318,600 outbound trips, with Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore among the top destinations. Outbound travel accounted for only 1.58 per cent of the overall tourism market in terms of the number of people who travelled, official figures showed.

The release of this third list of destinations for outbound group tours follows approvals in January and March 2023. The first batch included 20 countries such as Argentina, Cuba, Russia and Thailand, while the second included 40 countries, among them Brazil, France, Nepal and Portugal.

Shares in South Korean companies with large exposure to Chinese travel demand jumped on the news.

Two sources in South Korea’s travel industry told Reuters that it was the first time group tours from China would be allowed since its government unofficially limited the sale of group tour products to South Korea following a 2016 dispute over the deployment of a US missile defence system.

China has never publicly acknowledged such a limit.

Shares in casino operators Grand Korea Leisure and Paradise rose 21 per cent and 17.4 per cent, respectively, as the casinos cater to foreign visitors.

Cosmetics companies such as Amorepacific Group and Cosmax and retailers such as Shinsegae saw shares jump on hopes of increased sales to Chinese travellers. REUTERS