China announced that starting on Wednesday, all kinds of visas will once again be issued, allowing tourists to travel to the country, after barring entry following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Following last month’s declaration of victory by officials over a recent COVID-19 outbreak, the final cross-border control measure was lifted.
A $17 trillion economy that last year experienced one of its slowest rates of development in nearly 50 years should be revitalized by the boost to the tourism industry.
Visa-free travel will once again be available in parts of China that did not require them before the pandemic, the foreign ministry announced on Tuesday. The southern tourism island of Hainan will be included in this.
The practice of allowing visitors from Hong Kong and Macau to enter the southern manufacturing center of Guangdong without a visa will also be reinstated.
Foreign nationals with valid visas obtained before March 28, 2020, according to the government, will also be permitted entry into China.
In order to resume regular travel between the UK and China, Tom Simpson, managing director of the China-Britain Business Council, said that applications for all kinds of visas must be reopened.
“The (council) has already seen business travel applications and arrivals begin to increase since January, however, this news should lead to a significant increase in visits in particular for tourism.”
China included 40 more nations to its roster under which group tours are permitted, bringing the total to 60, after withdrawing its advice to citizens against travelling abroad in January.
According to Chinese flight tracking APP Flight Master, the number of inbound and outbound foreign flights in the week of March 6 increased by more than 350% compared to the same week last year to nearly 2,500 flights, though it was still only 17.4% of 2019 levels.
Just 115.7 million cross-border journeys took place in and out of China in 2022, of which 4.5 million were made by outsiders.
In comparison, China recorded 670 million total trips in 2019 prior to the implementation of COVID, of which 97.7 million were made by foreigners.
Beijing revoked the strict zero-COVID regulations in December and the quarantine requirements for arriving travellers in January.
In reaction to COVID-19, China achieved a “smooth transition” in less than two months, according to new Premier Li Qiang, who also claimed that all of China’s strategies and actions had been ideal.
