Inbound travels from various countries to China have increased significantly in the past week following its announcement to extend its visa-free transit.
The National Immigration Administration announced on Dec 17 to extend the visa-free transit for eligible foreign travelers from the original 72 and 144 hours to 240 hours, or 10 days.
In addition, 21 more ports were designated for visa-free entry and exit, and the areas in which transit travelers can stay were expanded.
Under the updated policy, eligible passport-holders from 54 countries, including Russia, Brazil, Britain, the United States and Canada, can enter China visa free when transiting to a third country or region.
These travelers may now enter through any of the 60 ports across 24 provinces, regions and municipalities and stay within the designated areas for up to 240 hours.
One of the new ports is the Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport in central China's Hunan Province, which had handled 556,000 inbound trips as of Sunday this year, up 154 percent year on year.
To better receive the increasing number of foreign tourists, Zhangjiajie has annotated all signs in the 37 major scenic areas across the city with Chinese, English and Korean, and allowed shoppers to pay with foreign cards at more than 3,240 hotels and shopping venues.
"China is a very beautiful place, as you can see up here. It's really amazing. The foods are really good. I think you should come visit. And it's particularly good with my tourist group over here, because it's very difficult to get around if you don't know the language, and he'll solve you out," said Atiyu, a tourist from Dubai.
"So convenient. And yes, I do believe that more foreigners will come to China with the visa freedom," said Julia, a German tourist.
Thanks to the visa-free policy, Zhangjiajie's sources of inbound tourists have increased to 187 countries and regions this year.
In Shanghai, inbound South Korean travelers have continued to grow since the visa-free policy was expanded to cover South Korea on November 8.
Data from a tourism platform showed that booking orders from South Korea to Shanghai have increased by over 180 percent year on year, or 40 percent month on month.
"(It's) very clean, magnificent, and charming," said a South Korean tourist.
Shanghai has been the hottest destination for inbound tourists from South Korea since China implemented unilateral visa-free policy to the country, followed by Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province and Beijing, the national capital.
Visa-free policy expansion boosts inbound travels to China
Visa-free policy expansion boosts inbound travels to China
Visa-free policy expansion boosts inbound travels to China
