The ministry said in a notice on its website on Friday that a pilot program will take effect on Feb 6 to allow travel agencies to open outbound group travel for Chinese citizens to 20 nations -- Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba and Argentina.The decision was made at the request from the foreign affairs panel of the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, the country's top COVID-19 response task force, and was based on considerations about COVID-19 control measures and socioeconomic development, said the ministry.Tourists will be urged to make sure they are not infected with the highly contagious disease before boarding the flight, pay attention to their own safety and health and follow local COVID-19 rules during the journey, and comply with epidemic prevention requirements after returning to their hometown.A user named "Elegance of Snow Lotus" wrote, "I will travel around the world," while another who goes under the name "Bryant Manbahun" said, "I have taken my passport out of the box."Data from Trip.com, a major tourism service supplier in China, showed that just half an hour after the release of the announcement, the search volume for outbound flight tickets and overseas hotels reached a three-year high on the company's search engine."