Foreign visitor numbers yet to reach China’s pre-pandemic levels, data shows
- 12 months after strict Covid-19 border controls were lifted, overseas tourists and residents are being tempted with relaxed visa rules
- But some foreign residents who endured three years of severe restrictions say they are leaving, despite the incentives
National Immigration Administration (NIA) spokeswoman Zhang Ning said the number of foreign nationals residing in China “has rebounded to 85 per cent of the level at the end of 2019”.
The NIA data also showed that Chinese authorities issued a total of 711,000 residency permits of various types to foreign nationals living within the country in 2023.
The Chinese economy is expected to undergo a continuous recovery and the nation will broaden its openness to the global community, she said.
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The NIA figures landed in the midst of China’s latest bid to woo more foreign businesspeople, students and tourists, with Beijing stepping up its policy moves over the past five months to encourage visitors.
The measures – which have included relaxed visa requirements and other incentives – are part of a wider effort to boost China’s sputtering post-pandemic recovery and restore people-to-people exchanges amid an increasingly challenging international environment.
China lifted three years of strict border controls in January last year, but the expected economic and inbound tourism revival for the world’s second-largest economy has yet to take off.
After enduring nearly three years of strict restrictions related to China’s zero-Covid approach to the pandemic, some foreigners have decided to leave, despite the country’s efforts to reconnect with the world over the past year.
Some of those leaving say they have sensed an increasing wariness, even hostility, towards them. Meanwhile, students from developing countries who do want to stay report problems meeting the strict work permit requirements after graduation.
Even in the post-pandemic era, foreigners in China have continued to raise concerns about lingering visa and entry difficulties, limited flight availability, and a more uncertain security climate – especially since the revised counter-espionage law was introduced in April.
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Observers have cautioned that the slow return of overseas tourists could make the Asian giant less attractive to overseas investors, as well as deepen misunderstandings between societies and worsen geopolitical risks.
For the whole of last year, China recorded 424 million inbound and outbound trips, with foreign visitors accounting for a mere 8.4 per cent, according to the latest NIA data.
The 2023 figures were 36.7 per cent and 6.2 percentage points lower than the sum of 670 million cross-border trips in 2019, when foreign visitors accounted for a 14.6 per cent share.
But the data showed a jump of 266.5 per cent on 2022’s cross-border trips, when China’s borders remained firmly closed. Inbound and outbound travel by foreigners in 2023 grew 693.1 per cent from the previous year.
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First travellers arrive and depart from Beijing as China reopens international borders
The NIA issued a basket of new rules a week ago, which took immediate effect, that further relax China’s entry and visa processes.
The package eases eligibility requirements for entry visas, waives border inspections for transit at certain airports, and streamlines application procedures for entry visas, extensions of stay and multiple-entry permits.
The initiative follows December’s 25 per cent cut in visa fees that will be in place until the end of this year, along with an expansion in November of China’s 72- and 144-hour visa-free transit policy to cover the citizens of 54 countries.
China eases visa rules again to push tourism, business travel as economy falters
Beijing has also announced that it will unilaterally grant Swiss and Irish nationals visa-free entry after visits by Chinese Premier Li Qiang this week to Switzerland and Ireland.
The move expands a previous rule change to permit travellers from six countries – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia – to visit China for up to 15 days without a visa, effective until November 30.
Meanwhile, Singapore announced in December that a 30-day mutual visa exemption scheme with China will be implemented this year.
Earlier this month, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Thailand and China will permanently waive visa requirements for each other’s citizens from March.
