(Yicai Global) Sept. 20 -- China Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (Shanghai FTZ) has received official authorization to set up wholly foreign-owned travel agencies for outbound tourism.

Qualified agencies may now apply to operate an outbound tourism business in the zone.

Wancheng Shanghai Travel Agency Co. became the first wholly foreign-owned travel agency to settle in Shanghai FTZ, Jiemian News reported.

The agencies must be free from any administrative punishment, be registered in the free trade zone and have legally operated a domestic tourism business in Shanghai for two consecutive years to apply to trial an outbound tourism business in the zone. Applicants must also be companies of a certain size.

Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration and the China National Tourism Administration will review applications, which must be submitted by Dec. 31, 2019, and there will be no more than three trial agencies. If a wholly foreign-owned agency is approved by the national tourism administration to operate an outbound tourism business, and obtains a new business license for outbound tourism, the trial period will be extended to three years.

The pilot is designed to give play to the free trade zone's institutional advantages in trying new projects, the person in charge at the national tourism administration's supervisory management division said. The purpose of the pilot is to generate a reproducible and promotable experience for travel agencies and further open up the revolution of the tourism industry.