TW Newsdesk, March 14: China stated that it is set to reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic by restoring the issuance of all types of visas from Wednesday.

The removal of this last cross-border control steps imposed to guard against COVID-19 comes after authorities last month declared victory over a recent surge in the virus. The boost to the tourism sector should help rekindle a $17 trillion economy that last year suffered one of its slowest rates of growth in around half a century.