BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) — China introduced on Tuesday a big rest of its visa-free transit coverage, aiming to additional increase worldwide openness and people-to-people exchanges.
The National Immigration Administration (NIA) mentioned the permitted keep for eligible international vacationers has been prolonged from the earlier 72 and 144 hours to 240 hours, or 10 days.
The transfer, efficient instantly, additionally features a substantial growth of designated ports and journey areas, enhancing flexibility for worldwide guests.
Under the up to date coverage, eligible residents from 54 nations, together with Russia, Brazil, Britain, the United States, and Canada, can enter China visa-free when transiting to a 3rd nation or area.
These vacationers can now enter by way of any of the 60 ports throughout 24 provinces, areas, and municipalities — up from 39 ports in 19 provincial-level areas — and keep inside the designated areas for as much as 240 hours.
“Compared with the previous 72- and 144-hour visa-free transit policies, a notable feature of the policy adjustment is the introduction of cross-regional travel, allowing foreign visitors to move freely across the designated areas of 24 specified provincial-level regions,” mentioned Liu Jia, deputy director-general of the Department of Foreigner Management below the NIA.
Liu added that the up to date coverage permits international vacationers to higher plan their itineraries and organize versatile journey routes, enabling multi-destination tourism and enterprise actions throughout numerous areas.
The new measures have already garnered curiosity from worldwide vacationers. Just about one hour after the announcement, Luke Paul De Mena, an American vacationer, inquired in regards to the new 240-hour visa-free procedures at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in central China’s Hubei Province.
Planning to discover the cities of Wuhan, Yichang and Xiangyang, De Mena praised the up to date guidelines. “Hubei has a rich cultural heritage and cutting-edge technology. With the new policy, I can travel across the entire province — this is great!” he mentioned.
The areas newly lined by the visa-free coverage “offer unique attractions,” mentioned Liu, highlighting Shanxi’s historical structure, Jiangxi’s famend ceramics, and Guizhou’s pure heritage websites.
The expanded coverage incorporates such areas alongside main financial zones just like the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Officials mentioned this adjustment is predicted to fulfill the varied wants of international vacationers and enterprise vacationers alike.
Complementing different visa insurance policies, corresponding to regional visa exemptions, unilateral visa waivers, and mutual visa agreements, the brand new measures goal to advertise tourism, facilitate enterprise exchanges and improve China’s openness, based on officers.
China recorded almost 29.22 million inbound international visits between January and November 2024, up 86.2 % 12 months on 12 months. Of these, 17.45 million guests entered the nation visa-free, marking an enormous 123.3 % enhance from the earlier 12 months. Notably, the variety of visa-free transit vacationers surged by 132.9 % 12 months on 12 months.