The new visa free policy benefits China in all aspects

The new visa free policy benefits China in all aspects

With more and more tourists from countries receiving visa free entry to China, China's tourism and business industries have become winners, and exchanges and mutual understanding between China and foreign countries have also been strengthened.

The number of foreign tourists flocking to China is rapidly approaching pre pandemic levels. Undoubtedly, this delightful recovery is due to Beijing's decision to grant visa free entry to an increasing number of countries.

This type of visa free entry arrangement used to require lengthy bilateral negotiations to achieve. But it's not like that anymore.

On November 30th, multiple countries including Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Japan joined this arrangement. Ordinary passport holders from these countries who come to China for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, exchange visits, or transit for no more than 30 days are eligible for visa free entry. With the accession of these countries, the number of countries where citizens can enter China visa free has now increased to 38.

In addition, the authorities also allow citizens of 54 countries to apply for 72 or 144 hour visa free transit.

China's unilateral relaxation of visa requirements may have two main purposes: to restore the number of foreign tourists entering the country to promote economic growth, and to strengthen valuable people to people exchanges - which are particularly important during times of global geopolitical tension.

In 2019, there were nearly 32 million foreign tourists entering China. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was a significant decline in the number of foreign tourists entering the country. But new measures to relax visas are taking effect.

After China announced the expansion of visa free access to the aforementioned countries by the end of November, there was an immediate surge in search volume for Chinese travel destinations from Europe and Japan on travel booking platforms.

The National Immigration Administration of China stated that approximately 22.821 million overseas passport holders visited China in the first nine months of this year. From July to September alone, 8.186 million foreigners entered China, an increase of 48.8% over the same period last year. Nearly 60% of them used visa free entry.

At this healthy pace, this year seems to be about to become the year with the highest number of foreign tourists entering China since the pandemic, and may even reach or exceed the level of 2019.

While providing some marginal boost to the tourism industry, these folk exchanges are also a real source of benefits. Overseas tourists will provide certain assistance to the tourism sector. Relaxing restrictions on business travel may create opportunities to boost sluggish foreign direct investment.

To enhance mutual understanding between China and foreign countries, there is no substitute for witnessing firsthand and engaging with local people, which in turn will help consolidate the foundation of international relations.