Beijing, 19 August 2024 (TDI): China continues to see a rising number of foreign visitors thanks to its series of entry policies, the National Immigration Administration said on Monday.
In the first seven months of the current year, the number of foreign visitors to China went up 129.9% year on year (YoU) to 17.25 million, said Liu Haitao, NIA deputy head, at a media conference.
Meanwhile, a total of 341 million cross-border travels were registered, up 62.34% from the corresponding period of last year.
The foreign travellers are likely to boost consumption topping one hundred billion yuan (about $14 billion) in total, with a per capita daily average consumption volume of about 3,500 yuan, Liu said.
During the period, 846,000 port visas were issued to foreign citizens who have urgent needs to enter China but do not have enough time to apply for visas at its embassies or consulates abroad. The figure increased 183 percent year on year.
Regarding port visas, the NIA said foreign visitors can submit applications in advance to port visa officials by themselves or through inviting parties, or apply on site upon arrival at ports in the country.
Liu said China’s immigration officials had stepped up efforts to make customs clearance “more convenient” and cross-border supply chains “more efficient,” shortening the time span for customs inspections and establishing priority channels for major cargo flights.
Since the start of this year, Beijing has expanded its visa-free policies, relaxed visa application requirements and simplified procedures, exempted border checks for certain transit passengers and made mobile payment services more smooth for foreigners.
In its latest effort, the NIA unveiled last month a policy allowing people from nations with diplomatic ties with China to visit the southern island province of Hainan visa-free for 144 hours via tour groups registered in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
Earlier in July, the NIA said China’s 144-hour visa-free transit policy had been expanded to 3 more entry ports, taking the number of ports covered by the policy to thirty seven.
