Chinese travel agencies are preparing for the resumption of outbound group tour services starting from Monday, with the first batch of tourists set out for countries including Thailand and Laos.
At the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with great joy, Huang Xing, 69, checked in with three of his buddies for a long-planned trip to Phuket.
They had made several overseas trips together before the pandemic, and now they are also planning a trip to Eastern Europe later this year.
“Thailand is relatively close, and even though it is a group trip, the schedule is quite relaxed and it’s nice to be with friends,” said Huang.
Huang is among 25 tourists on a Thailand-bound tour organized by the Shanghai Airlines Tours International (Group) Co., Ltd.
Starting Monday, China resumed outbound group travel to 20 countries, including Thailand, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and New Zealand.
The move, announced in January, sparked a frenzy of trip planning and saw online searches for overseas destinations spike, with Thailand being the most popular.
