The global tourism market is eager to welcome the return of Chinese visitors after group tours were given green light to nearly 140 overseas destinations.

As one of the foremost contributors to international tourism, prior to the pandemic, more than 150 million Chinese tourists traveled overseas each year.
After the country optimized its pandemic response, travel agencies and online tourism service providers have been permitted to provide group tours of 20 countries from February. In March, a second list of 40 destinations including France, Greece, Spain and Italy was added.
This month, group tours were permitted to more than 70 countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Türkiye and most European Union member states.
"We're very happy to see that Chinese tourists can go in groups to Türkiye. Hopefully they'll be able to join the last part of their summer vacations and enjoy some good time in my country by this announcement," said Hüseyin Emre Engin, consul general of Türkiye in Shanghai.
Norway also considers China one of the most important sources of tourism in Asia.
"We have been preparing for this day since the outbreak of the pandemic. In the past three years, we have done many things to promote how to travel like a local in Norway through different ways. The purpose of doing so is to tell travelers how to get the authentic experience when they are in Norway. I have heard from many airlines. Now they are reconsidering to increase the weekly flight frequency and also relaunch some new flight routes in the near future," said Jason Wang, chief representative of VisitNorway Greater China.
With more people ready to travel abroad, the number of travelers to Türkiye is expected to reach new highs.
"Our first aim is to get to the number that we have reached in 2019 which was 500,000 Chinese tourists. That's the number that we have passed. It was a good number. But still hopefully with the new destinations that we will open to our Chinese friends, we will be able to reach this one million tourists number hopefully next year with China. So that's our aim," Engin said.
With more Chinese tour groups now able to visit more countries, the world's biggest outbound tourism market is likely to play a key role, as the global industry continues to recover from the pandemic.