WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Foreign tourists are trickling back to China after the country loosened its visa policy to unprecedented levels. Citizens from 74 countries can now enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, a big jump from previous regulations.<\/p>\n
The government has been steadily expanding visa-free entry<\/a> in a bid to boost tourism, the economy and its soft power. More than 20 million foreign visitors entered without a visa in 2024 \u2014 almost one-third of the total and more than double from the previous year, according to the National Immigration Administration. <\/p>\n \u201cThis really helps people to travel because it is such a hassle to apply for a visa and go through the process,\u201d Georgi Shavadze, a Georgian living in Austria, said on a recent visit to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.<\/p>\n While most tourist sites are still packed with far more domestic tourists than foreigners, travel companies and tour guides are now bracing for a bigger influx in anticipation of summer holiday goers coming to China.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m practically overwhelmed with tours and struggling to keep up\u201d says Gao Jun, a veteran English-speaking tour guide with over 20 years of experience. To meet growing demand, he launched a new business to train anyone interested in becoming an English-speaking tour guide. \u201cI just can\u2019t handle them all on my own\u201d he said. <\/p>\n After lifting tough COVID-19 restrictions<\/a>, China reopened its borders to tourists in early 2023, but only 13.8 million people visited in that year, less than half the 31.9 million in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.<\/p>\n 30 days for many in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mideast<\/p>\n In December 2023, China announced visa-free entry for citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia<\/a>. Almost all of Europe has been added since then. Travelers from five Latin American countries and Uzbekistan<\/a> became eligible last month, followed by four in the Middle East. The total will grow to 75 on July 16 with the addition of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n About two-thirds of the countries have been granted visa-free entry on a one-year trial basis.<\/p>\n For Norwegian traveler \u00d8ystein Sporsheim, this means his family would no longer need to make two round-trip visits to the Chinese embassy in Oslo to apply for a tourist visa, a time-consuming and costly process with two children in tow. \u201cThey don\u2019t very often open, so it was much harder\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe new visa policies are 100% beneficial to us,\u201d said Jenny Zhao, a managing director of WildChina, which specializes in boutique and luxury routes for international travelers. She said business is up 50% compared with before the pandemic.<\/p>\n While the U.S. remains their largest source market, accounting for around 30% of their current business, European travelers now make up 15\u201320% of their clients, a sharp increase from less than 5% before 2019, according to Zhao. \u201cWe\u2019re quite optimistic\u201d Zhao said, \u201cwe hope these benefits will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n Trip.com Group, a Shanghai-based online travel agency, said the visa-free policy has significantly boosted tourism. Air, hotel and other bookings on their website for travel to China doubled in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year, with 75% of the visitors from visa-free regions.<\/p>\n No major African country is eligible for visa-free entry, despite the continent\u2019s relatively close ties with China.<\/p>\n North Americans and some others in transit can enter for 10 days<\/p>\n Those from 10 countries not in the visa-free scheme have another option: entering China for up to 10 days if they depart for a different country than the one they came from. The policy is limited to 60 ports of entry, according to the country\u2019s National Immigration Administration.<\/p>\n The transit policy applies to 55 countries, but most are also on the 30-day visa-free entry list. It does offer a more restrictive option for citizens of the 10 countries that aren\u2019t: the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Sweden, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Indonesia, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.<\/p>\n