(Yicai) May 6 -- Cuba has announced visa-free entry for Chinese passport holders, while flights between China and the Caribbean country will start running again to attract more tourists.

The visa-free policy was announced by Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia on May 4 at the 42nd Cuban International Tourism Fair, held in the seaside resort of Cayo Coco island from May 2 to yesterday.

Searches for hotels and flights surged over 40 percent within half an hour after the visa waiver was announced from a day earlier, according to data from Chinese online travel agency Trip.Com. Residents from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Shandong, and Fujian showed the biggest interest.

Due to the long distance and cost, Cuba is not a popular destination for Chinese tourists, but with the launch of visa-free entry and the resumption of flights, the impact of these factors will likely significantly decrease, Qin Jing, vice president of Trip.Com, told Yicai, adding that more Chinese tourists are expected to visit Latin America.

Air China, the country's flagship carrier, will begin operating flights from Beijing to Havana with a layover in Madrid starting on May 17, the first route between the two countries following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Beijing-based carrier ran the Beijing-Montreal-Havana route from 2015 to 2020.

Air China will run two round-trip flights from Beijing to Havana via Madrid a week, according to the website of travel agency Qunar. One-way tickets from Beijing start at CNY8,263 (USD1,140), while the return fare starts at CNY5,835.

Chinese airlines have been launching more routes to Latin America. Air China resumed operation of the world's longest route at nearly 17,500 kilometers from Beijing to São Paulo via Madrid on April 28, while China Southern Airlines, the country's largest carrier by fleet size and passenger numbers, launched a direct flight from Shenzhen to Mexico City on April 17.

Editor: Martin Kadiev