The ancient town of Ciqikou in Chongqing sees crowds of visitors in early August after travel agencies were given permission to resume group tours that cross provincial borders. [Photo provided to China Daily]

4 Cross-provincial tourism

Travel agencies were given permission by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on July 14 to resume group tours that crossed provincial borders, following suspension due to the pandemic. The limit on visitor numbers allowed in tourist attractions was also increased from 30 to 50 percent of maximum capacity. Less than an hour after the restriction was lifted, the number of searches for trans-provincial group tours on online travel agency Qunar jumped nearly 400 percent. Another online travel agency, Trip.com, saw searches on its own site surge to about 500 percent.