Reviving China’s inbound tourism is a crucial step in re-establishing connections with the outside world and enhancing China’s image among international travelers. China’s ongoing constructive actions in this area are promising.
In an effort to streamline international travel, increase tourism and people-to-people interactions, and enhance cross-border business and international exchanges, citizens of nine nations—Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, and South Korea—will be provided visa-free treatment in China for a maximum of 15 days between November 8, 2024, and December 31, 2025, for the purposes of business, tourism, family visits, or transit.
Due to this timely decision, 25 countries now have 15 days of visa-free entry in China, which will further boost related sectors of the travel industry, such as catering, cultural products, transportation, and hotel businesses. It will also encourage tourism, tourist retail consumption, business activities, and more cross-cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.
China consistently prioritizes people-to-people connectivity in fostering constructive bilateral ties with other countries. This initiative is an ideal illustration of China’s opening-up strategy, a significant step that enables people to fully grasp China rather than just understand it. China’s bold and creative strategy for attracting tourists may also mark a significant shift in perceptions and attitudes.
China has improved payment systems throughout the country to facilitate international travel. Major international payment processing networks like Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay are now accepted on the Chinese mainland, and mobile payment applications like WeChat and Alipay make it possible to link foreign credit cards, making international payments much easier.
These policy decisions, such as optimizing instant mobile payment, extending visa-free travel to 25 countries, and introducing the 144-hour free transit visa—which covers 54 countries and was recently extended to 37 entry points—have contributed to China’s successful tourism campaign. In its most recent effort to support the cruise sector and increase inbound tourism, Beijing announced in May that foreign tourist groups organized by Chinese travel agencies, entering China on cruise ships docked in the ports of 13 designated cities, can now remain for up to 15 days without a visa.
China’s visa-free policy is yielding results, as evidenced by the country’s notable growth in international visitors in the third quarter of this year. The visa-free entry facilities allowed 4.88 million foreigners to enter China during that period, representing a remarkable 78.6 percent year-on-year increase.
With the travel and tourism sector expected to contribute a record-breaking 12.62 trillion Chinese yuan to the national economy by the end of 2024, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2024 Economic Impact Research, rising inbound travel will surely be essential to hitting the 5 percent growth goal. Now that nationals from nine more nations may enter the country without a visa, the tourism sector is in a solid position to recover in 2024.
Reference(s):
China's recent visa-free policy further enhances economic prospects
cgtn.com
