Mr Andrews spent four days meeting senior officials in Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu before returning to a hostile reception in Melbourne after not taking a press pack with him.

A mandated ministerial travel report published on Thursday shows airfares for the premier and two accompanying staff cost $61,813, with another $14,933 spent on accommodation and $5968 on other travel expenses.

The trip cost state taxpayers $82,716 in total.

"The purpose of this travel was to promote closer education, trade and tourism ties and to strengthen Victoria's relationship with Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces, the state's oldest and newest sister-states respectively," the report states.

An agreement for Tennis Australia and a Sichuan-based liquor company to extend their partnership and Sichuan's education department offering 10 scholarships for Victorian higher education students to study abroad were among the cited trip outcomes.

Others still in the works include supporting discussion about daily direct flights between Melbourne and Chengdu, and the Victorian and Sichuan governments exchanging planning information ahead of regional Victoria hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

It was the Victorian Labor leader's seventh trip to China as premier and the first by an Australian leader since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Andrews travelled to China twice in 2019.

His first five-day trip that year with two staffers cost more than $37,000 and the second, which also included travel to Vietnam and a larger entourage in the same time span, led to a $100,000 bill.

Victoria strengthened ties with China in 2019 when it signed on to Beijing's Belt and Road initiative.

The agreement was designed to increase the participation of Chinese companies in Victoria's infrastructure program, and promote co-operation of Victorian businesses in China.

But the Morrison government cancelled the agreement in April 2021, saying it was inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy or adverse to foreign relations.

AAP