A woman poses as another takes her photograph with a phone under a cherry tree in Vancouver on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Vancouver's cherry blossoms were a major tourist draw for Chinese tour companies — before Beijing left Canada off its list of approved travel destinations.
Before international travel largely shut down due to the pandemic, roughly 60 per cent of mainland Chinese tourists' spending abroad went to group tours. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen look out over Shanghai, China on Saturday, December 5, 2009. between the two countries and a boost for tourist destinations popular with Chinese visitors.
The COVID-19 pandemic then turned off the taps almost completely, as Beijing stopped approving international group travel for its citizens.Thursday's reinstatement of endorsed group travel to dozens of international destinations sent a signal that Beijing now approves of its citizens spending money abroad again. Even the U.S.