China, on Thursday, lifted a ban on travel to more than 70 countries, including Tunisia, that had been in place since the beginning of the COVID health crisis.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism called on travel agencies and tourism service providers in China to resume marketing group tours abroad to Chinese tourists.

As part of the decision to resume mass tourist flights, China lifted the ban on travel to France in March 2023 and Switzerland in January 2023.

The new list of countries that Chinese tourist groups can visit also includes Japan, South Korea, India, the UK, Turkey and Belgium.

China had closed its borders in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19, and banned Chinese from travelling abroad for three years unless necessary. This ban was completely lifted for individual travel abroad from 2023.

Tunisia had recorded an influx of around 30,000 Chinese tourists in 2019.