More African countries open to Chinese citizens
18/12/2003 17:21
Eight more African countries have opened to Chinese tourists, with
the total number of travel destinations in Africa reaches 11, the Youth Post
reported today.
The eight countries are Kenya, Ethiopia, Seychelles,
Mauritius, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Tunis.
In Africa, Chinese citizens
were previously only allowed to travel in Egypt, South Africa and Morocco.
"We have opened two travel itineraries to Africa, with one nine-day tour to
South Africa and the other nine-day tour to Egypt and Turkey via Europe," said
Yu Weihua, spokesman with the outbound department of the Shanghai China Travel
Service.
"Except for the golden weeklong holiday, we usually organize a
package tour made up of 25 persons to the two itineraries every month on
average," Yu said.
Charges on the South Africa tour and Egypt-Turkey tour
normally reached 12,000 yuan (US$1,446) and 13,800 yuan respectively, while a
price hike of around 5,000 yuan is expected for such tours during the Spring
Festival holiday, Yu added.
The opening of the eight African travel
destinations will not be a hit like 12 European countries, as the business tours
to Europe have been well developed and Chinese tourists have a better
understanding of Europe than Africa, Yu pointed out.
Most tourists and even
travel agencies are unfamiliar with Africa, with safety and sanitation issues
there should be further investigated, he added.
"It will take at least half
a year before the Chinese citizens actually travel there," he predicted.
"We
are currently considering organizing a tour to Kenya, South Africa and
Zimbabwe," he said.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
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