China has lifted a Covid-era ban on outbound group tours to more countries, including Japan, South Korea and the United States, a move that could see Chinese tourists return to destinations around the world.

The decision was announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Thursday, effective immediately.

Group tours were given the green light to more than 70 countries, which also include the UK, Germany and most other European Union member states.

Before the pandemic, mainland tourists spent more than any other country's tourists when travelling abroad. In 2019, they spent a total of US$255 billion, with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60 percent.

The nation's outbound travel operators, which have struggled since 2020 with more than three years of pandemic-induced border closures before Beijing dropped Covid curbs late last year, cheered the news.

"It's a milestone for the full resumption of the outbound travel, and will also strongly push the resumption of international flights, especially for Japan, Korea, the US," said 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 Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore among the top destinations. Official figures showed that outbound travel accounted for only 1.58 percent of the overall tourism market in terms of number of travellers.

Australia, India and Pakistan were also among the countries for which restrictions were lifted. But Canada, which has had fraught relations with China of late, was not reinstated.

"This is another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China," said Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell.

It was the third list of countries to receive approvals. The first batch approved in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch in March included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil. (AFP/Reuters)