China set for tourism surge after waiving visas for for six countries

Just pack a bag and hop on a plane. That's how easy it is for people from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia to visit China thanks to new visa exemption rules. 

Citizens living in these countries can now visit China for up to 15 days without a visa if the purpose of their trip falls under business, tourism, visiting relatives or transit. The exemption will run for a 12-month trial period from December 1, 2023 to the end of November 2024.

After the news was announced, online searches for flights and China tours doubled in European countries and tripled in Malaysia. CGTN went to Madrid airport to find out how travellers have responded to the news. 

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"I think it's great, especially for young people," says Elena, a civil engineer from Madrid on her way to Beijing. "It's a good idea to make it easy to travel there and maybe also for China to get more tourism.”

Daniel is travelling with Elena, part of the same group of engineers. "For me, I had the idea to go there before to China, and now it'll be even easier and cheaper because I don't have to pay any visa," he says.

The idea of the scheme is to boost inbound tourism and promote closer ties with these six countries. In the first half of this year, travel agencies in China recorded 477,800 visits of inbound tourists compared to 8.56 million in the same period in 2019, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The visa waiver could help the industry recover. 

China's inbound tourism set to soar 

With internet flight searches surging, China should see a big increase in inbound tourist numbers. That seems to chime with attitudes on the ground in Europe, where there is hope that relaxed travel restrictions will improve business relations, too. 

"This visa waiver will mean that for 2024 our trips to China will increase much more," says Laura Gonzalez Escallada, a young entrepreneur who founded Ni Hao Conecta in Madrid - a consultancy that helps increase and improve business between Spain, Latin America, and China. 

"Before we were planning to do let's say 12 to 13 trips and now we are planning to go for 20 trips to China. The thing of going there for 15 days without getting worried about visas and paperwork will also help us to convince our clients, we can say 'come with me to China, things are getting easier'."

Why were these six countries chosen for China's visa-free initiative?

Malaysia has a very strong relationship with China, which has been its largest trading partner since 2009, while the two countries also share close cultural ties. As for the other five countries chosen, it's significant that they are all European and part of the Schengen area, and are accustomed to allowing and enjoying a certain freedom of movement.

China-EU relations are in good shape with bilateral trade reaching 856.3 billion euros ($932 billion) in 2022, according to Eurostat. Germany is China's biggest trading partner within the EU, and in Spain's case good relations with China were reflected and highlighted throughout 2023 with celebrations of the 50th anniversary of official diplomatic relations between the two countries.

With the dynamic cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, along with the island of Hainan in the south top of the Spanish and European travel wish list, those destinations are now closer than ever.

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