China on Thursday lifted a ban on group travel to more than 70 countries, including the United States, imposed after the health crisis, raising hopes for a rebound in Chinese tourists abroad, AFP and Agerpres reported.

This measure already applies to France from March and Switzerland from January due to the previous lifting of restrictions on organized travel.

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the publication of this new list of countries, which includes Japan, South Korea, India, Great Britain, Turkey and Belgium.

Canada, which has a complicated relationship with China, is not included.

China closed its borders in 2020 to protect against COVID-19 and then imposed a lengthy and expensive quarantine on arrival to prevent re-entry.

During the pandemic, China isolated itself from the rest of the world

The Chinese were banned from traveling abroad for three years without valid reasons.

But at the beginning of the year, this ban was completely lifted, and Chinese tourists traveling individually can now go wherever they want.

“International ties (with China) continue to improve and Chinese people are increasingly inclined to travel abroad,” China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, while the country has long remained almost isolated from the rest of the world due to the lack of flights during the pandemic. and draconian restrictions.

According to the McKinsey consulting company, before the pandemic, China was the world leader in the number of tourists sent abroad, with about 155 million departures recorded in 2019.

In March, China resumed issuing tourist visas to foreigners. But arrivals in the country are only a fraction of pre-pandemic levels.