Not only focusing on attracting domestic tourists, China also implements many attractive policies to increase the number of international tourists such as optimizing immigration policies, improving tourism services, and diversifying payment methods.
In recent years, China has implemented many policies to attract international tourists to their country.
From this week, China officially expanded its visa-free policy for foreigners transiting at three new border gates: Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in Henan Province, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport in Yunnan Province, and Mohan Railway Port in Yunnan Province.
With the expansion of these three border gates, the total number of border gates applying the 144-hour (6-day) visa-free policy in China has increased to 37. This policy allows citizens of 54 countries, including Vietnam, to stay in China for up to 6 days without a visa for the purpose of tourism, business, visiting relatives or transit.
This is a positive move by China to attract international tourists and promote the development of the tourism industry. Visa exemption will help reduce administrative procedures for tourists, save time and costs, and create favorable conditions for them to explore many different destinations in the same trip.
The Chinese government is expected to continue to implement more open and liberal policies to attract international tourists to their country.
In addition to expanding visa policies, China is also making efforts to upgrade the entire tourism industry. Payment services at major cultural and tourist sites across the country have been optimized. Visitors can pay in many different forms such as cash, domestic and international bank cards, popular e-wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay. Major tourist destinations are equipped with POS machines that support payment by Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express... Mobile payment applications Alipay and WeChat Pay are widely used in China, allowing visitors to pay quickly and conveniently without having to carry cash or cards.
Tourist attractions that regularly welcome international visitors have currency exchange counters for visitors to easily exchange money. Payment instructions in many languages are placed at ticket counters, restaurants, and hotels for visitors to easily look up and use.
Policies such as expanding visa exemptions for entry and transit or facilitating payments and travel have contributed significantly to attracting foreign tourists to China. According to the National Immigration Administration of China, in the first 6 months of 2024, more than 14.6 million foreigners entered the country, an increase of more than 150% over the same period. Of these, 58% entered under visa exemption, nearly double the same period in 2023.
