France-China business and tourism supercharged by visa-free travel

China is making travel easier for French passport holders, extending visa-free entry until the end of 2026 for stays of up to 30 days. Beijing says the aim is to strengthen tourism and trade ties, as it looks to rebuild people-to-people links after the COVID-19 pandemic.

For French firms with operations in China, the change is more than a convenience. It can shape how quickly they can respond to customers, solve technical problems, and keep supply chains moving.

At the heart of that is ICAPE Group, a French printed circuit board company that works with manufacturing partners in China and supplies customers in Europe.

"It's absolutely vital," said ICAPE's CEO Yann Duigou. "Even though we have 254 employees in China, most of whom are local hires, our management is largely French, and we need to be able to bring clients with us. 

"We rely on regular business exchanges, so we need to travel to China frequently and, ideally, at short notice."

For companies such as this, which are working between France and China, timing is often critical. When issues arise on production lines or quality checks, being able to travel quickly can mean the difference between a delay and a solution.

"When you have an issue to resolve quickly, you need to be able to act fast and efficiently," Duigou added. "So not needing a visa really makes things easier for us and helps us strengthen business relationships between our teams in China, our Chinese manufacturing partners, and the rest of the world."

For Beijing, this move is about more than just travel convenience.

"For China, there's the idea of compensating geopolitical friction by increasing the people-to-people exchange," said Sacha Courtial, an EU-China associate researcher at the Institut Jacques Delors in Paris. 

"This is something that China always seeks: having more people meeting each other. And one of the main hurdles so far was the administrative one since COVID. And with France, there is this willingness to have more and more cooperation and exchange."

The story does not end with business travel. Tourism is a major part of the calculation, too.

"I think there's more and more attraction for tourism, and I've seen a couple of ads from China in the metro stations in Paris. Also, businesses are more and more eager to visit new industries in China," Courtial told CGTN.

And while tourists and executives are travelling for different reasons, the direction remains the same. More movement between France and China, and more activity that follows.