That’s why, said the secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, “the most important headline of the year was undoubtedly the reopening of China after being closed for more than a thousand days”.

Mainland China, which had been following the `zero covid’ policy, announced in mid-December the gradual cancellation of most of the prevention and containment measures, after almost three years of strict restrictions.

“The whole world has been waiting for you,” said Pololikashvili. “I had the honor of being the first UN leader to visit China after the opening to international arrivals in Hangzhou last February,” he added.

At the same ceremony, GTEF secretary-general Pansy Ho Chiu-king said that the interest in the event’s return “shows how much the world wants to know more about the Chinese [tourism] market and needs the Chinese market”.