Pakistan is not just looking at inviting Chinese tourists to Pakistan, but also looking at sending Pakistani tourists to China, said Aftab ur-Rehman Rana, the managing director of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation. The decision to hold the Pakistan-China Year of Tourism Exchanges in 2023 will greatly help improve people-to-people contacts and especially promote tourism cooperation, he added.

"For Pakistan, the opening of Chinese tourism is a very positive sign," Rana said, adding that Pakistan has made a lot of preparation to welcome Chinese tourists.

The government has been working on improving the availability of information on both sides as well as producing new literature on major tourist destinations in the Chinese language, so that the Chinese tourists know well about Pakistan, he said.

Rosemary Anderson, the national chair of hospitality industry body, Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa, said there are ways in which SA can make itself a more attractive destination for Chinese tourists such as offering payment platforms, like WeChat Pay and Alipay, being aware of when Chinese holidays take place, learning key phrases in Mandarin, and training tourist guides to speak Mandarin.

Xinhua and Agencies contribute to this story.