China’s National Immigration Administration said on Friday that the number of foreign arrivals increased significantly in the first half of this year and is expected to continue to grow in the second half following the implementation of a series of favorable visa policies.
In the first half of 2024, the number of foreign tourists visiting China was approximately 14.64 million, up 152.7% year-on-year. Of these, approximately 8.54 million foreigners visited China without a visa, up 190.1% year-on-year.
The 12367 immigration management service platform received a total of 2.72 million calls from more than 100 countries and regions around the world, with a very high satisfaction rate of 99.1%.
Since last year, China has implemented a unilateral visa exemption policy for 15 countries, including France, Germany, and Australia. Citizens of these countries holding ordinary passports can enter China without a visa for various purposes, including business, tourism, family visits, and transit, with a maximum stay of 15 days. In addition, China has signed mutual visa exemption agreements with seven countries, including Singapore and Thailand.
NIA spokesman Lin Yongsheng said these policies have fostered mutual trust between countries, promoted economic and trade exchanges, and facilitated people-to-people exchanges.
According to the recently released World Economic Forum’s 2024 Travel & Tourism Development Index, China ranks eighth in the world in promoting tourism development, making it the only developing country in the top ten.
“With the continued expansion of the visa-free zone and the accelerating implementation of various policies, we expect foreigners to become more eager to visit China in the second half of this year,” Lin said.
In February, the State Bureau extended the visa-free entry policy to Hainan to cover passport holders from 59 countries, including Russia, the United Kingdom and France, allowing residents of these countries to enter Hainan visa-free for various purposes and stay for up to 30 days.
Starting from May 15, China has fully implemented a visa-free policy for foreign tourist groups arriving on cruise ships. In addition, five new measures have been introduced to facilitate foreigners’ entry into China, including simplifying the application conditions for port visas, allowing foreigners to transit without inspection within 24 hours at major airports such as Beijing Capital International Airport, simplifying visa application materials, and streamlining document procedures for foreign travelers.
In addition, the State Administration has approved the setting up of new visa and document reception centers in 13 counties in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other provinces, expanding the coverage of port visa services to 100 ports in 73 cities across the country.
Yang Jinsong, director of the Institute of International Studies at the China Tourism Academy, said the introduction of favorable inbound policies will attract more tourists to China and lay a solid market foundation for the development of domestic tourism.
Yang said this will not only stimulate the domestic tourism market, but also improve service quality, develop niche tourism markets more effectively, and improve related facilities and public services.
“China’s increasingly open attitude is boosting the confidence of domestic and foreign tourists,” he added.
