China Sending Tour Groups To Israel From September 15

China's State Council has approved Israel and French Polynesia as tour destinations for Chinese citizens' outbound tours.

From September 15, 2008, Chinese citizens can organize tour groups through travel agencies approved and designated by the China National Tourism Administration for outbound tours operation, to visit Israel and French Polynesia subject to holding a passport valid for more than six months.

According to the Embassy of Israel, China and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding on Chinese-organized tour groups to Israel last year. Following that, travel agencies of both parties reached an agreement on details including itineraries. The MOU allows both parties to select their own travel agencies with approval or on recommendation to the other and party travel agencies from both two countries can sign a contract of business cooperation.

The data published by Embassy of Israel indicated that the number of Chinese mainland visitors to Israel was less then 5,000 a year, most of which were official and business travelers; while China welcomed a total of about 50,000 inbound tourists from Israel each year — mostly leisure travelers.