Online travel searches for Cuba have skyrocketed after Cuba announced a visa-free policy for Chinese citizens in early May.
Direct flights are set to resume from Friday. The surge in tourists' interest showcased an optimistic outlook for personnel exchanges and economic vitality between China and Cuba, analysts said.
As of Thursday, online travel searches for Cuba were up nearly 10 times month-on-month, according to data that Fliggy, a China-based travel platform, sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
Searches for flight tickets from China to Cuba skyrocketed more than 30 times on a monthly basis.
As the summer vacation - from early July to early September - for Chinese students approaches, Fliggy expects a surge of Chinese tourists going to Cuba, marking the first peak since the visa exemption for Chinese citizens was announced on May 4.
Tickets for direct flights from Beijing, China's capital city to Havana, Cuba's capital city, are on sale on some Chinese travel platforms. Such tickets cost about 7,800 yuan ($1,080) on travel platform Qunar.
The flights, which open on Friday, will operate twice a week. They were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. 古巴进入“免签队列”，旅游搜索热度高涨
