China will soon allow visa-free entry for citizens of five European countries and Malaysia.
The announcement was made on Friday as the country tries to encourage more people to visit for business and tourism.
From 1 December, citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia will be able to enter China without a visa for up to 15 days. The trial programme will run for one year.
The aim is to “facilitate the high-quality development of Chinese and foreign personnel exchanges and high-level opening up to the outside world”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a daily briefing.
International travel to China has yet to recover
China’s strict pandemic measures, which included mandatory quarantines for all arrivals, deterred many people from visiting for almost three years. The restrictions were lifted earlier this year, but international travel has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
China previously allowed visa-free entry for citizens of Brunei, Japan and Singapore, but suspended this after the COVID-19 outbreak. It reinstated visa-free entry for Brunei and Singapore in July, but not for Japan.
In the first six months of the year, China recorded 8.4 million entries and exits of foreigners, according to immigration statistics. That compares with 977 million for the whole of 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
The government is seeking foreign investment to boost the sluggish economy, and some businesspeople have come for trade fairs and meetings, including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook. Foreign tourists are still a rare sight compared to before the pandemic.
