While China was once considered one of the world’s countries most closed to foreign visitors, passport-holders from 27 countries can now visit with just a plane ticket.
Motivated by the need to invigorate its struggling tourism industry following the COVID-19 lockdowns, China has continued to add additional passports to its new visa-free travel program first launched at the end of 2023 for 11 European nations including France, Germany and Hungary. Over the next 12 months, countries added to the program include Australia, New Zealand, Greece and Slovenia.
Don’t miss the move: SIGN UP for TheStreet’s FREE daily newsletter
Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
‘China decided to give visa-free treatment to more countries’: spokesperson
On Nov. 8, nine additional countries will get added to the visa-free program that allows for both personal tourism and short-term business meetings; these include Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Slovakia, Andorra, Liechtenstein, South Korea and Monaco.
“To further facilitate cross-border travel, China decided to give visa-free treatment to more countries by extending the visa-free policy to ordinary passport holders from [the above-mentioned countries] on trial basis,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said at a recent press conference.
The program allows citizens of what is now a total 27 countries to come to the territory of China for up to 15 days and, despite its widespread success, is still officially a trial run; the program is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025.
Countries noticeably absent from the list include English-speaking Western nations such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. While the absence is due to escalating political tensions with their governments (the U.S. State Department still has China as a level three “reconsider travel” country), China has also taken certain steps to make entry easier for travelers from these areas.
Related: Numerous airlines are canceling flights to China
A view of the Beijing, China skyline.
Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
American and interested in China travel? This is what you need to know
Instead of having to book plane tickets and a hotel stay in order to apply for a visa, Americans now need only to submit passport information and work history at a local consulate. There is also the “72/144-Hour Visa-Free Transit Policy” that lets international visitors from a much wider list of countries including the U.S. enter cities such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Shanghai and Guangdong for visits of no longer than 144 hours.
Non-European with visa-free travel access to China now include South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia but noticeably exclude Japan — the country had a visa-free arrangement with China up until 2020 that was not restarted after the pandemic due to escalating tensions over the South China Sea.
“The extension of the short-term visa-free policy until the end of 2025 will undoubtedly further boost confidence and enthusiasm for traveling to China, and will contribute to the growth of inbound tourism as well as aid in the prosperity of the industry,” President of the China Tourism Academy Dai Bin said in a statement earlier this year.
When it comes to getting to China from the United Kingdom, there are currently additional challenges with flights that can get one there. Virgin Atlantic and British Airways both recently canceled flights to Beijing and Shanghai from London over the higher fuel costs that come with not being able to fly through Russian airspace after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As China has no such restrictions, the market for flights from the United Kingdom is currently being dominated by local carriers like Air China (AICAF) .
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
