The Chinese government has allowed the resumption of group tours by its citizens to 78 more countries and regions. The destinations include Japan, South Korea, India, the United States, Australia, Britain and Germany.

China announced the lifting of the ban on Thursday. It had been imposed from January 2020 to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

China began resuming group tours to overseas destinations in stages starting in February this year.

Chinese citizens can now go on group tours to a total of 138 countries and regions.

The number of Chinese travelers to Japan had plunged since the Chinese government adopted a strict zero-COVID policy in 2020.

But from around this spring, the number of individual Chinese travelers has been on a rising trend.

The resumption of group tours to Japan after three and a half years is expected to lead to a jump in Chinese travelers to the country.

The Japan National Tourism Organization says that about 9.59 million Chinese tourists visited Japan in 2019, before the pandemic. They accounted for 30 percent -- the largest portion -- of the overall number of inbound travelers.

China opens 40 countries and regions includes Nepal, Spain and Denmark in March. The travel agencies and travel portals are allowed to sell and promote group tour products to these 40 destinations from Friday.

The travel portal Qunar said that group travellers can choose destinations such as Spain, France and Nepal with direct flights. Flights to countries in southeast Asia, for example, Vietnam so far enjoy lower prices compared with that to European countries.