China’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that its Department of Consular Affairs has resumed reviewing and providing visas to foreign citizens looking to enter the country.

The country’s borders have been closed to overseas visitors for almost three years following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused major disruption to sporting events in China.

It also led to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics taking place under a strict closed-loop management system, separating participants from the general public.

The return of foreign visitors comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping secured a historic third term in office earlier this month, and as Beijing has declared “victory” against the virus, as reported by BBC News. 

The rescheduled Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games are now set to take place from July 28 to August 8 2023, with 15,000 athletes expected to compete across 18 sports.

Travel agencies and Government officials are hoping the easing of restrictions on overseas arrivals, combined with Chengdu’s hosting of the multi-sport event, will help attract tourists back into the city and the Sichuan Province.

Shao Dan, deputy general manager of Chengdu China Youth Travel Service told CGTN: "We have created many routes, including panda tours, ancient Shu culture and so on.

"Currently our tourist guides can speak a variety of languages, including English, Japanese, Russian, French, and so on."

Wei Chunfeng, director of the bureau of culture, sports and tourism for the Longquanyi District in Chengdu added: "All of our hardware facilities are multilingual, our community and various tourism reception units all have a certain level of foreign language ability, to provide better services for our international friends."