Countries across the world are thrilled about the perspective of millions of Chinese holidaymakers making a comeback after three years of COVID-19 border control coming to an end on Sunday.

The restrictions, introduced with the outbreak of the pandemic, were officially lifted on January 8, coinciding with the beginning of 2023 Chinese New Year travel rush. Billions of journeys could be made domestically and internationally during the festive season that culminates in a seven-day holiday due to start on January 21.

Governments worldwide have wasted no time in charming perspective Chinese holidaymakers in the run-up to Sunday's reopening, splashing photos and videos of well-known tourist attractions across Weibo, China's Twitter-like network.

"Chinese friends, France welcomes you with open arms," said the French Embassy on Weibo together with several photos showing the attractions of national pride for the 2024 Olympic Games host. Weibo users showered the post with 26,000 thumbs-ups.

In the social media campaign, the tourism authorities of what used to be major holiday destinations for Chinese travelers prior to the pandemic make no secret of their position on China's COVID-19 policy shift.

"Marvelous Thailand has been waiting for you for three years," reads a Weibo post by the southeast Asian country's national tourist bureau, which also contains a hashtag that translates as: "China orderly resumes outbound travel."

Data suggests that the media campaign to attract travelers may have come just in time to capitalize on the pent-up travel demand further boosted by the Spring Festival holiday.

Within half an hour of the announcement on the reopening policy later last month, searches for overseas destinations shot up by 1,000 percent, hitting a three-year high, according to Chinese online travel agency Ctrip. 

Data from Trip.com Group also showed that the number of orders for outbound flight tickets soared 254 percent in 24 hours on December 27, with Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Thailand among the most popular destinations.