Travelers entering China via international cruises can stay in chosen provinces of the country for as much as 15 days with out a visa the federal government said on Wednesdayas Beijing tries to spice up its cruise and tourism industries.
According to an announcement from China's Immigration Administration (CNI), regulations require foreigners to enter through one in all the country's 13 coastal cruise ports.
Visitors must travel as a part of a tour group of at the least two people organized by a Chinese travel agency and leave the country on the identical cruise. Tour groups can travel to Beijing or other coastal provinces.
“The full implementation of the visa-free entry policy for foreign cruise tourists is an important pillar to accelerate the development of China's cruise economy and an important measure to promote China's institutional opening,” CNI said in an announcement.
China's cruise business has made great progress this yr, with the country's first domestically built cruise ship, the Adora Magic City, making its first voyage on January 1, it said state media.
On Wednesday, seven cruise ports were added as permitted entry points under China's existing visa-free transit policy, along with the previous 31.
Visa-free transit allows residents of certain countries to remain in China with out a visa for as much as 144 hours while transiting to a different country. In November, Norway was added to the countries eligible for visa-free transit to China, bringing the entire to 54.
The latest visa-free travel policy reflects China's “determination and attitude” to “open up to the world” and is a step toward higher exchanges between China and foreign countries, CNI said.
China has been desirous to win back tourists because it reopened its borders last yr and commenced restoring international flight routes, ending three years of strict COVID-19 guidelines.
In December, the country granted temporary visa exemptions for travel as much as 15 days to residents of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia. Beijing too issue a reciprocal visa exemption agreement with Singapore in February. The regulation applies until November of this yr.
Companies have also sought to enhance the travel experience of foreign tourists. Alibaba subsidiary Ant Group recently allowed visitors in China to spend as much as $2,000 a yr through its Alipay mobile app without having to register their ID with the corporate.
The effort comes because the country has didn’t increase the variety of foreign travelers back to pre-pandemic levels, although domestic tourism in China has recovered, based on NIA data.
Data shows that 13 million foreigners entered or left China in the primary three months of this yr, a decline of over 40% in comparison with the identical period in 2019.
image credit : www.cnbc.com