China’s“Visa-free circle of friends” continues to expand, Slovakia, South Korea and other nine countries will try visa-free policy. The news has caused concern in many countries. The Slovak website blog.sme called the news encouraging, “We can travel to China Visa-free for two whole weeks!” South Korean media reported that South Korea“Has been listed as a visa-free destination for China for the first time”, and travel agencies are gearing up to develop more“Travel to China” products.
President of Finland: this is a“Surprise”
On November 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that in order to further promote exchanges between Chinese and foreign personnel, China has decided to expand the scope of visa-free countries, visa-free access for Slovak, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Icelandic, Andorra, Monegasque, Liechtenstein and Korean passport holders. During the 2024 period from 8 November to 31 December 2025, holders of ordinary passports of the above-mentioned countries may visit China without a visa for up to 15 days for business, tourism, visits to relatives and friends, and transit. Those who do not meet the visa-free conditions still need to obtain a visa before entering China.
In an interview with Chinese media after the announcement of the policy, Finnish president Stubb said it was “Indeed a happy accident”, “I told the news to some Finnish companies and they were very excited about it,” Slovak culture ministry officials said, according to hnonline, the 15-day visa-free policy will have a positive impact on Slovak art groups visiting and performing in China.
China will increase visa-free access to foreign countries to further promote economic and cultural exchanges, the times of India reported Wednesday. Since last year, China has been making it more convenient for foreign tourists to visit the country, injecting vitality into the economy and deepening exchanges between China and the rest of the world, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported on the 2nd, it is also conducive to improving mutual understanding and reducing tensions with European and American countries and Asian neighbours.
Korean travel agency plans more“Travel to China” projects
After the further expansion of visa-free country, domestic and foreign travel agencies have begun to prepare for“Travel to China”-related matters. South Korea’s tourism industry believes the policy will boost demand from people in their 20s and 40s who previously paid little attention to Chinese travel, Yonhap reported Wednesday. At present, South Korea to China with the main object of consumption for 50 to 70-year-old groups. To this end, the travel agencies are expanding China’s tourism products in an all-round way, for all age groups tourism demand, rich commodity content.
Kyowon Tour is planning to develop products that reflect the needs of young people, including adding Shanghai Disneyland Park to tourist attractions, South Korea’s East Asia daily reported. In addition to popular tourist attractions such as Zhangjiajie and Baekdu Mountain, the head of the yellow balloon travel agency said there were also plans to develop a wide range of travel products to cater to the themes of the younger generation and family tours. The company plans to offer winter tours to places such as Kunming and Lijiang, as well as more big cities where weekend getaways can be enjoyed.
Chen Kai, manager of Beijing Shengda Holiday Travel Agency, which specializes in inbound tourism, told the global times on the 3rd that“The visa-free policy is very effective in boosting inbound tourism. We have started to design and enrich related tourism products and are ready to welcome tourists from the above-mentioned countries.”
A variety of policies help foreign tourists to enter the country
China has granted visa-free access to 24 countries and visa-free access to 16 of them, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on October 8, visa-free 72-hour or 144-hour transit for 54 countries.
The Global Times learned from the website of the national immigration administration that our country has also adopted different policies on visa-free entry for foreigners regionally. These include a 144-hour visa-free policy for foreign tour groups from Hong Kong and Macao, and a 144-hour visa-free policy for tour groups from ASEAN countries entering Guangxi and Guilin Visa-free entry policy for foreign tour groups by cruise, which requires a stay of not more than 15 days within the designated scope of activities; As well as Hong Kong and Macao Foreign Tour Group Entry Hainan 144-hour visa-free policy.
With the expansion of the visa-free“Circle of friends”, the number of foreign tourists from visa-free countries has increased rapidly. According to the latest data released by Ctrip, from January to October this year, unilateral visa-free US tourists accounted for nearly 30% of China’s total inbound tourism orders. In terms of growth, Brunei, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Slovakia and other top ranking, more than 3 times year-on-year growth. At the same time, the number of returning foreign tourists is increasing, with nearly a quarter of inbound tourists coming to China twice or more this year, based on air ticket orders. In the third quarter of this year, the number of foreigners entering China’s ports rose 48.8 percent year on year, according to the national immigration administration. Of these, the number of people entering the country through visa-free entry increased by 78.6 percent year on year. Chen told the global times that since March this year, the number of inbound tourists received by travel agencies has been growing at a high rate, far exceeding the pre-epidemic rate.
Demand for travel from South Korea to China has recovered rapidly, the East Asia daily reported. According to the travel agency’s data, Han Hanadole travel agency in the third quarter to China travel goods sent tourists up 112% year-on-year growth of 19% . In the third quarter, the company sent 44,000 tourists to China, up 138% year on year.
Hong Yong, a think tank expert at the China Digital Reality Integration 50 forum, told the global times that this move by China to expand the scope of visa-free countries, it shows China’s open attitude to the outside world and its determination to promote international exchanges and cooperation. It is expected to attract more foreign tourists and businessmen to visit China, thus promoting the development of China’s tourism industry and the growth of international trade. At the same time, it is also conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese people and the people of these countries.