China reaches mutual visa exemption agreement with 23 countries
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China now enjoys comprehensive mutual visa exemption with 23 countries after reaching an agreement on mutual visa exemption with Thailand on Jan 28.
The agreement, which allows the holders of ordinary passports for both side and passports for public affairs for Chinese side stays of up to 30 days, will take effect on March 1.
China will expand visa-free travel to more countries and seek more countries for mutual visa exemption, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, as China continues to make efforts to facilitate travel and tourism with more countries.
Up to now, China has inked mutual visa exemption agreements covering different types of passports with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries and enjoyed comprehensive mutual visa exemptions with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, the Maldives and UAE, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Wednesday.
CCTV
Recently, China has signed agreements on the mutual exemption of visa requirements with Singapore and Thailand. China is implementing unilateral and mutual visa-free policies for more countries. How do these policies work and what steps will be taken to further facilitate cross-border exchanges?
Wang Wenbin
As you mentioned, China implements a visa-free policy for a larger circle of friends, formally ushering in a “visa-free era” with more and more countries.
So far, China has signed mutual visa exemption agreements with 157 countries, covering different types of passports, reached agreements or arrangements to simplify visa procedures with 44 countries, and enjoyed comprehensive mutual visa exemption with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, the Maldives and the UAE. In addition, over 60 countries and regions offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival policy to Chinese citizens.
All these measures increasingly make Chinese citizens’ outbound travel easier and Chinese passports more valuable, and help foreigners travel, work, study and live in China more conveniently, and are well received by the international community.
Improving visa policies and facilitating cross-border travel is an important measure, through which the diplomatic service contributes to China’s high-quality development and high-level opening-up. This brings more opportunities for deepening friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and other countries. The executive director of the UN World Tourism Organization said that China’s visa-free policies will help the global tourism industry recover and China’s booming tourism industry will lead neighboring countries to prosper together. After the mutual visa exemption agreement is reached between China and Singapore and between China and Thailand, the number of travel bookings for the Spring Festival made by Chinese visitors to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and that by visitors from these three countries to China surged year-on-year. The “visa-free era” is generating positive effects.
We will continue to upgrade measures facilitating cross-border travel, and provide effective safeguards for Chinese nationals to travel abroad more safely and conveniently. We welcome more foreign friends to visit China, see with their own eyes the country’s vitality, the people’s hospitality and the hustle and bustle of their life, and leave behind more stories of cross-border friendship between the peoples in the new era.
Recently, the French government has announced that Chinese master's degree holders who have studied in France will be granted a five-year visa; the Swiss government will provide more visa facilitations for Chinese citizens and enterprises investing in Switzerland; and the Irish government is actively considering providing more convenience for Chinese tourists and endorsements for Chinese enterprises investing in Ireland.
Improving visa policies and facilitating
cross-border travel is an important measure, through which the
diplomatic service contributes to China's high-quality development and
high-level opening-up, and this brings more opportunities for deepening
friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and
other countries, Wang said.
China's visa-free policy will help world tourism pick up.
After the mutual visa exemption agreement is reached between China and Singapore and between China and Thailand, the number of travel bookings for the Spring Festival made by Chinese visitors to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as that by visitors from these three countries to China surged significantly year-on-year.
The
bookings of Chinese tourists for travel to these three countries during
the upcoming Spring Festival holidays were up more than 15 times
compared with 2023 on Chinese travel platform Trip.com as of Monday.
International
tourism numbers are set to recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2024,
according to data published by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
on Friday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
A "stronger recovery of Asian markets" and a corresponding rise in the number of airline connections are "expected to underpin a full recovery by the end of 2024," said the report.
"The whole world has been waiting for China to open up more, and now Chinese tourists are coming back," Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary-general of the UNWTO, told Xinhua ahead of the International Tourism Fair.
According to the World Tourism Barometer recently released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (now UNWTO), the number of international tourists will return to the level before the COVID-19 epidemic in 2024. The report predicts that the Chinese outbound and inbound tourism market will develop rapidly in 2024.
China's border authorities handled over 424 million entries and exits by individuals in 2023, a significant increase of 266.5 percent year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration.
Of the 424 million entries and exits, 206 million crossings were made by mainland residents, an increase of 218.7 percent year-on-year, and 183 million were made by residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 292.8 percent from 2022.
In addition, nearly 35.48 million crossings were made by foreign nationals, a year-on-year increase of 693.1 percent.
Source:By China Daily | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2024-02-02 17:35 https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202402/02/WS65bcb770a3104efcbdae967f.html;http://www.ecns.cn/news/politics/2024-02-01/detail-ihcxhitc4317824.shtml
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