China opened its tourism market wider and gave licenses to three joint travel services to organize Chinese tour groups overseas as per a report in Xinhua
The National Tourism Administration of China on Monday gave the licenses to TUI China Travel Co Ltd, CITS American Express Travel Services Ltd, and JTB New Century International Tours Co Ltd.
The three joint ventures involve foreign tour operators from Europe, the United States and Japan respectively.
The three are among 14 joint ventures that filed applications for licenses after the administration and the Ministry of Commerce announced the opening of the outbound market to foreign tour operators last September.
"We expect (the opening) will add more options for tourists and improve the tourism industry's management," the administration said in a news release.
Previously, foreign tour operators were allowed to operate inbound and domestic travel, but were barred from outbound business.
But insiders said the outbound business is the most lucrative part of the Chinese tourism market, because it is experiencing the fastest growth and generating the most profits in China compared to domestic and inbound travels.
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