Visa-free entries to China increase by 190% in the first half of the year

Entry of foreigners without a visa to China The number of people infected with COVID-19 increased fivefold during the first half of the year, reaching 8.542 million people, representing an increase of 190.1% compared to the same period in 2023, the National Administration of Health reported this Friday. Immigration of the Asian giant.

These data show a considerable increase in visitors who take advantage of the end of the policy of ‘covid zero’, which kept the Asian country’s borders practically closed for three years, and the recent implementation of several visa exemption treaties with various countries.

However, the agency’s 2019 data, the last before the Covid-19 pandemic, did not include entries by foreign citizens without visas, so it is difficult to calculate the contribution of the new exemption policies to the increase observed in these first six months of 2024.

China received 14.63 million foreign travelers between January and June, a 152.7% more than in the first half of last year, although the comparison with the data from five years ago reflects a decrease in the total number of entries, since in that period 23.9 million travelers entered the Asian giant from other countries (a 63.9% more than the figures released today).

Of the total entries and exits during the first six months of 2024, 137 million were citizens of China, 121 million were residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and the remaining 29.22 million were foreigners.

In 2019, 181 million Chinese citizens entered or left the country (32% more than in 2024), 115 million in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (-4.95%) and 47 million foreigners (+63.14%).

In addition, immigration authorities noted that during this time period they issued a total of 12.34 million passports to Chinese citizens, an annual increase of 23.2%, and 46.15 million permits were issued to mainland Chinese residents for entry and exit from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, an annual increase of 7.8%.

Last November, China announced that nationals of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia would enjoy a unilateral visa exemption until December 2024, a list to which the authorities have gradually added more countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Poland a week ago, and which they have extended until December 2025.

Several experts have stated in different local media that time-consuming visa application procedures and the price of airline tickets are the main reasons why foreign tourism has not yet reached pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

China has therefore taken a number of steps to help international travellers in recent months, including making it easier for visitors to use the ubiquitous electronic payment services WeChat Pay and Alipay.