Cross-province group tourism resumes in China

Cross-province group tourism has resumed in seven regions in China by Thursday, as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism allows cross-province, city and district group tourism to resume conditionally, the Beijing News reported on Thursday.

These seven regions include Shanghai, Southwest China's Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, East China's Jiangxi and Shandong provinces, Northwest China's Qinghai province, and Central China's Hunan province.

After Sichuan and Shandong provinces announced the resumption of cross-province travel on Wednesday, the number of searches for Chengdu and Qingdao from these two provinces increased by 310 percent and 230 percent, respectively, from the previous day, according to Beijing-based online travel service provider Qunar.

Among the first batch of holiday products launched by Qunar, over 4,300 are related to Sichuan province, 2,035 are related to Shandong province, and 1,298 are related to Qinghai province.

Data from Meituan indicated that users' searches for scenic spots outside places they live in increased 130 percent from the previous week by noon on Wednesday, and the growth rate was higher than that of local scenic spots in the province for the first time.

The resumption of cross-provincial travel has boosted confidence in the entire tourism industry and data from tourism platforms shows the number of searches for vacation products, such as air tickets and hotels, is rising.

Meanwhile, stricter COVID-19 prevention and control measures have been taken in different parts of China to resume travel businesses in an orderly manner. In Shanghai the organizer of the tourism trip also is a manager who is responsible for all people and relevant information must be uploaded to a national tourism monitoring service platform.

Travel agencies are required to strengthen pre-trip screening, check the health condition of the tourists and staff members, and do a good job in collecting tourists' information. Small-scale tourist groups are encouraged.

Protective materials, such as medical masks, body-temperature test devices, hand sanitizer, disposable gloves and disinfectant, are required to be provided by travel agencies and online travel enterprises.

Industrial experts pointed out that the outbreak of novel coronavirus has changed people's travel habits and higher safety and quality requirements have been put forward for travel.

Travel enterprises should normalize COVID-19 prevention and control and strengthen marketing to enhance consumers' confidence in travel and welcome the orderly recovery of the market.