According to the latest annual report released by China Tourism Academy, a part of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Asian tourism giant's outbound tourism will see a steep rise in Chinese overseas trips by the end of 2021.

Chinese outbound tourism numbers are set to jump by more than 25% this year from 2020 but remain 'basically at a standstill' compared to the pre-pandemic levels, states the Chinese national broadcaster CCTV showing the official statistics.

The dramatic drop in travellers from the world's most populous nation, since the rapid spread of coronavirus early last year, has left a $255 billion annual spending hole in the global tourism market.

A total of 25.62 million Chinese tourist trips overseas are expected to be made by the end of 2021, said CCTV. This number is up from 20.334 million in 2020, which was itself an 86.9% plunge from 2019 as the coronavirus outbreak led to severe restrictions on global travel.

The 2021 projection, which includes trips to special administrative regions of China such as the gambling hub of Macau, will still be well below the annual numbers of over 100 million before the pandemic hit, CCTV underlined.

Interestingly, Macau, a former Portuguese colony, has become a 'bright spot' for outbound tourism from the mainland China due to effective virus prevention and control measures. The pace of recovery in 2022 will depend on how other destinations within and bordering China handle Chinese tourists.