China will simplify visa applications for U.S. tourists to China starting from 2024
30.12.2023
Chinese officials said on Friday that in order to facilitate personnel exchanges, starting from January 1, 2024, visa application materials for U.S. citizens traveling to China will be waived. In recent months, Beijing has been revitalizing its tourism industry by relaxing visa policies and resuming international flights.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The Chinese Embassy in Washington issued a notice on its website on Friday (December 29) stating that in order to further facilitate personnel exchanges between China and the United States, tourist visa application materials will be exempted from January 1, 2024. “Personnel in the United States who are traveling to China are not required to provide round-trip air tickets, hotel orders, itineraries or invitation letters when applying for a visa to China.”
Since China opened up from nearly three years of strict COVID-19 prevention policies, Beijing has been taking various measures in recent months to revive its tourism industry, including resuming international routes and making visa-free entry possible.
Relax visa policy
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously announced at the end of last month thatStarting from December 1, 2023, a one-year unilateral visa exemption policy will be implemented on a trial basis for citizens of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia who are visiting China for a short period of time.。
Holders of passports from the above countries can enter China without a visa for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, or transiting through China for no more than 15 days.
The Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the attractions frequently visited by foreign tourists.
The business community believes it can help restore trust
Jens Hildebrandt, executive director of the German Chamber of Commerce in China, said China’s measures to relax visa restrictions were a “positive signal”. “This shows that the Chinese government is willing to take some unconventional measures to attract more investors into China. Whether this measure itself is sufficient to achieve the goal remains to be seen. People’s trust has been exhausted in the past three years. However, more opening-up initiatives and concrete measures must now be taken to restore this trust.”
In mid-November this year, China also expanded its 72/144-hour transit visa-free policy to 54 countries. Passport holders including most EU countries, the United States, Brazil, Australia, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, who transit from China to a third country with international travel documents and air tickets, can report to the port entry and exit border inspection agency Submit an application for transit visa exemption.
The number of international flights has not returned to pre-epidemic levels
At present, the number of international flights in China has still not returned to pre-epidemic levels.According to information provided by global tourism data provider OAG, in November this year, there were 4.778271 international flights in and out of China, a 43% decrease from the same period in 2019.
OAG data also shows that flights from China to South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have recovered much faster than flights to France, Italy and the United States, but all flights are currently operating at much lower volumes than the epidemic previous level.
(comprehensive report)
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2023-12-31 11:59:11
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