China Expands Visa-Free Access to 9 More Countries to Revive Economy

Prior to the pandemic, only three countries had visa-free privileges to China.

By Thea Felicity

Nov 22 2024, 08:21 AM EST

HONG KONG-CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS — Passengers walk through the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong on December 8, 2022. - Hong Kong government announced that mandatory quarantine for infected persons and self-monitor period for arrivals will be shortened to five days from December 8, while all the other social restrictions remain the same despite relaxation of rules in mainland China. ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP via Getty Images

In a bid to revive its declining economy, China will be turning to the tourism sector.

Recently, the third-largest country announced plans to expand its visa-free entry program beginning November 30.

AP News reported that citizens from nine more countries, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Romania, will be allowed to enter China visa-free for up to 30 days. This step takes China's number of countries having visa-free access to 38.

Only three countries were previously on the list of visa-free countries but most of them lost their visa privileges during the restrictions prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan was one of them. The country has requested the Chinese government to resume the status even after tension arose between the two due to a deal over the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Chinese officials hope that this will improve bilateral exchanges and lead to smoother diplomatic ties.

The Impact of Visa-Free Policy to China

Besides making it easier to travel for tourists, this extended visa-free policy aims to increase people-to-people exchanges. China has been promoting these exchanges among students, academics, and other professionals to help ease strained relations with other nations.

Even after the pandemic eased, China still kept its entry restrictions stringent compared to many other countries, and therefore, its borders could not open up fully until further in 2023. In that year, China gradually began granting visa-free access again to citizens from Brunei and Singapore. At the end of December 2023, China expanded this to an additional six countries—France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Since the resumption of the visa-free program, China has experienced exponential growth in foreign visitors. According to the East Asia Forum, between July and September 2024, China experienced 8.2 million foreign entries out of which nearly 5 million were visa-free. The growing number of visitors shows that the policy is already positively affecting the country's tourism and business sectors.

By continuing to expand these visa exemptions, China hopes to further boost its global influence and recovery.