Skiers enjoy patchy snow at the Adelboden resort in the Swiss Alps on Friday. [Photo/Agencies]
BEIJING — In early April, Xiaoying and her husband boarded a plane from Beijing to Geneva to begin their honeymoon in the picturesque Swiss Alps.
The flight, which was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed operations in February 2023, marking a significant revival of tourism among Chinese travelers.
“With the resumption of flights, there are more options for travel destinations,” Xiao said.
According to data from the Swiss Tourism Board, tourists from mainland China spent a total of 153,723 nights in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 92.2% year-on-year.
“The resumption of air flights between the two countries has greatly contributed to the rapid increase in Chinese tourists,” said Shi Ban, managing director of Switzerland-based LOTO Travel Agency AG. Visa procedures for Chinese travelers have also been simplified.
To meet the growing demand for international travel, China has increased flight capacity and expanded favorable visa policies for its citizens.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that scheduled international passenger flights have resumed to about 73% of pre-pandemic levels.
According to aviation information service provider Flight Manager, the number of flights between China and countries such as the UK, the UAE, Italy, Qatar and Turkey in April exceeded the number of flights during the same period in 2019.
International passenger flights now connect China with 70 countries, with five new destinations added since the pandemic: Kuwait, Serbia, Tanzania, Luxembourg and Papua New Guinea. According to CAAC, new international routes have recently opened, including Beijing-Madrid and Shenzhen, Guangdong province-Mexico City.
Additionally, China has implemented visa-free policies for many countries to facilitate travel for its citizens.
So far, China has signed agreements and arrangements to simplify visa procedures with more than 40 countries, and achieved comprehensive reciprocal visa exemptions with more than 20 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, the Maldives and the UAE. Additionally, more than 60 countries and territories offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival policies to Chinese nationals.
Since Malaysia's visa-free entry policy came into effect on December 1, 2023, 168,000 Chinese tourists have visited the country in the past month, an increase of 35.1 percent from November, Tourism Malaysia said. Director-General Manoharan Periasamy said.
To facilitate Chinese tourist arrivals, Malaysia will deploy Mandarin-fluent staff at key entry points and work with airlines to offer direct flights from China's second and third-largest cities. He said this improves the tourist experience.
Bolstered by these efforts, the resurgence of China's outbound tourism industry continued to gain momentum. During the recent May Day holiday, Chinese tourists traveled to nearly 1.897 million countries and regions. The country has become the largest source of international tourists.
“The revival of Chinese outbound tourists will boost Switzerland's tourism industry and the economy as a whole. People-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding will also be strengthened,” Shi said, adding that travel agencies are improving their services to welcome more Swiss tourists.
Xinhua News Agency
