From Friday, residents of nine more countries can enter China while not having a visa to go to.
Holders of unusual passports from eight countries in Europe — Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein — in addition to South Korea can visit for business or leisure purposes for as much as 15 days while not having a visa.
The visa exemption is ready to stay in effect until Dec. 31, 2025.
South Korea is a serious tourism source marketplace for China. In 2019, some 4.3 million South Koreans visited China, in keeping with The Korea Times. Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported lower than 1.3 million visited in 2023.
Share prices of distinguished Chinese and Korean travel firms rose following Beijing’s announcement of the expanded visa-free program on Friday.
Trip.com shares have risen greater than 5%, while low-cost carrier Jin Air rose nearly 4%.
Efforts to spur tourism
That is the most recent round of nations to be added to China’s ever-growing visa-free program, designed to spur inbound tourism which has yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2019, China welcomed some 49.1 million travelers — as of July this 12 months, around 17.25 million foreigners had arrived, in keeping with the state media agency Xinhua.
China’s visa-exemption policies have been instrumental in luring foreigners to go to. Within the third quarter of 2024, 8.2 million foreigners arrived, a 49% increase from 2023 — with some 4.9 million utilizing this system, Xinhua reported Tuesday.
Officials are also moving to ease headaches for international visitors, including payment problems foreigners encounter within the country, in keeping with Chinese state media. For instance, the federal government is requiring that major tourist attractions accept foreign bank cards and money, reports show.
Chinese officials are also in search of to revive flight capability back to pre-pandemic levels. Chinese carriers are adding flights to Europe this winter, within the wake of major global carriers canceling services to China on account of low demand and continued operational problems attributable to Russian airspace restrictions.
