Starting Friday, citizens of nine other countries can enter China without requiring a visa to visit.
Ordinary passport holders from eight countries in Europe – Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein – as well as South Korea can visit for business or leisure purposes for up to 15 days without the need for a visa.
The visa waiver is set to remain in effect until December 31, 2025.
South Korea is a major tourism source market for China. In 2019, about 4.3 million South Koreans visited China, according to The Korea Times. Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports less than 1.3 million will be opened by 2023.
Share prices of leading Chinese and Korean travel companies rose after Beijing’s announcement of an expanded visa-free program on Friday.
Shares of Trip.com rose more than 5%, while low-cost carrier Jin Air rose nearly 4%.
Efforts to spur tourism
It is the latest round of countries to add to China’s ever-expanding visa-free program, designed to spur inbound tourism that has yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2019, China welcomed about 49.1 million travelers – as of July this year, about 17.25 million foreigners had arrived, according to state media agency Xinhua.
China’s visa-free policy has become a tool to attract foreigners to visit. In the third quarter of 2024, 8.2 million foreigners arrived, a 49% increase from 2023 – with around 4.9 million using the program, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
Officials are also moving to ease headaches for international visitors, including payment problems faced by foreigners in the country, according to Chinese state media. For example, the government requires major tourist attractions to accept foreign credit cards and cash, reports show.
Chinese officials are also seeking to restore flight capacity back to pre-pandemic levels. Chinese carriers are adding flights to Europe this winter, as major global carriers cancel services to China due to low demand and continued operational problems caused by Russian airspace restrictions.
