Starting March 15, 2023, China will resume issuing all categories of visas to foreigners, lifting the cross-border control measures it imposed three years ago at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The move comes after China stopped issuing visas to foreigners and passports to its people in early 2020 as the disease ravaged the central city of Wuhan.
The resumption of visa services removes the last of the cross-border control measures introduced because of the virus. This is a significant step towards the resumption of normal travel between the UK and China, according to Tom Simpson, managing director of China-Britain Business Council. He told Reuters that the council has already seen business travel applications and arrivals begin to increase since January. However, this news should lead to a significant increase in visits, particularly for tourism.
The foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that areas in China that required no visas before the pandemic will revert to visa-free entry. This will include the southern tourist island of Hainan and cruise ships passing through Shanghai port. Visa-free entry to the southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong for foreigners from Hong Kong and Macau will also start again.
The ministry also said that foreigners holding visas issued before March 28, 2020, that are still within their validity dates would be able to enter China. This means that those who had already obtained visas before the pandemic hit will not have to reapply for new ones.
Beijing started taking applications for passports from its citizens on January 8 after abruptly abandoning its zero-COVID strategy at the end of last year. It also withdrew its longstanding advisory against all foreign travel. This move is expected to boost outbound travel from China, which was the world’s largest market for outbound travel before the pandemic.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, China had gone from 4.5 million travelers in 2000 to 150 million in 2018. Chinese tourists are also the world’s biggest spenders when on holiday, accounting for $277bn or 16 percent of the world’s total spending that same year.
Data from Chinese online travel agencies Ctrip and Qunar showed significant increases in bookings and searches for flights to the resort of Sanya in Hainan, especially during the Lunar New Year towards the end of January. This indicates that there is a pent-up demand for travel among Chinese tourists.
The resumption of visa services is a positive sign for the global tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. It is hoped that other countries will follow suit and ease their travel restrictions as vaccination rates increase and the number of COVID-19 cases decreases.