BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- Brunei tourism authority and the Chinese embassy in Brunei held a warm ceremony at the International Airport on Saturday to welcome the arrival of about 110 tourists from China.

The arrival of Chinese tourists marked the reconnection between the two countries' capital cities through direct flights by Royal Brunei Airlines in three years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourists from China will help bring gradual resurrection to the tourism industry in the country, Dayang Salinah, acting director of the Tourism Development Department at Brunei's Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, told Xinhua.

According to the Tourism Development Department, China is one of the top five countries in terms of tourist arrival to Brunei. In 2019, 22 percent of a total of 333,244 tourists to Brunei were recorded from China.