China's drive to curb overseas trips by officials using public money has significantly cut the number of such trips in 2009, the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention (NBCP) said in a report on its website.

In 2009, government and Communist Party of China (CPC) officials went on 123,553 overseas trips in 33,507 groups on public funds, down 45.5 percent and 49 percent, respectively, from the average of the previous three years, according to the report released Tuesday.

The cost of the trips was 37.6 percent, or 1.63 billion yuan (238.67 million U.S. dollars), less than the average of the previous three years.

China will continue its drive to strictly curb and appropriately reduce public-funded overseas trips by officials, and will seek to establish a permanent mechanism to prevent public funds from being abused for sightseeing, the report said.

The government will control the total number of public-funded overseas trips by incorporating the expense of the trips into its budget and by applying a stricter approval system, the report said.

Officials who violated the regulation will be severely punished, with their cases being made public so other officials will learn a lesson, the report said.

The report did not elaborate on how severe the punishment could be.