bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Laura Zhou

China is to allow some foreigners to visit Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin and Hebei province for up to six days without a visa.
The visa-waiver scheme is open to visitors from 53 countries who stop in China while in transit to a third country, the state-run People’s Daily reported.
A similar six-day visa-free transit policy was introduced in Shanghai and neighbouring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces last year.
The new policy covering Beijing and neighbouring areas comes into force on Thursday. The countries in the scheme include most of the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.
Chinese tourists are everywhere, but why are foreign visitors shunning China?
The move forms part of government plans to more closely integrate the economies and development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.


China’s Civil Aviation Administration and the economic planning agency the National Development and Reform Commission have also pledged to construct new infrastructure to connect airports in the region by 2020.
Notices about the visa scheme have already been prepared in Chinese and English at Tianjin’s international airport as well as the city’s cruise port, the report said. 
Wang Huiyao, director of the Centre for China Globalisation think tank, said the scheme would boost the tourism sector, especially in Tianjin and Hebei.
“The new policy covers citizens from almost all the developed countries in the world and six-day stays mean foreign visitors now have enough time to travel or to attend business conferences without needing to spend time and money on visa applications,” said Wang.
China’s tourist turn-offs: visitor numbers down thanks to rising yuan, pollution and visa issues
Chinese tourists have become the largest contributor to the international tourism market, but China has long struggled to attract foreign travellers, with its strict visa policy often blamed as one of the factors deterring overseas tourists.
Chinese tourists made 62.03 million trips abroad in the first six months of the year, but foreigners only made 14.25 million trips to China, according to the National Tourism Administration.


Shocked tourists on Thai ferry watch luggage float away while enjoying deck views

IndiGo flight chaos exposes risks of India’s aviation duopoly

Japan issues megaquake advisory after magnitude 7.5 Aomori quake

Paris Louvre faces rolling strike after major water leak and robbery

Tourism

Transiting in Beijing? You can now stay visa-free for six days

A file picture of an arrivals gate at Beijing’s international airport. Photo: Agence France-Presse

People queue for the chance at applying for a Chinese visa outside the Commisioner's Office of China's Foreign Ministry department, the de facto Chinese Consulate in Hong Kong on April 23, 2008. China imposed curbs on visitors, just weeks after it stopped issuing multiple-entry visas sparking concern among the business community, in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. AFP PHOTO/MIKE CLARKE / AFP PHOTO / MIKE CLARKE

Chinese tourists are everywhere, but why are foreign visitors shunning China?

A group of American tourists outside the Forbidden City in Beijing. Photo: Handout

scmp

(170425) -- BEIJING, April 25, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Italian policemen talk to pupils at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2017. Starting from April 24, four Italian policemen and their Chinese counterparts carried out a 2-week joint patrol in some tourist areas in Beijing and Shanghai. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) (zhs)

A Chinese vendor (L) serves a foreigner at a textile wholesale market in Beijing on October 14, 2009. China's exports fell at the slowest pace in nine months in September, customs data showed, indicating demand for Chinese goods was improving and helping the government sustain the recovery. AFP PHOTO/WANG ZHAO

Foreigners take part in a pillow fight organized online at a popular tourist district in Beijing Saturday, April 3, 2010. Around a dozen foreigners took part in what organizers describe as International Pillow Fight Day, an event that Chinese police had shut down during the past two years. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

News

China

Politics

Visitors from 53 nations who stop in China while in transit to a third country will be able to stay for up to six days in the capital, Tianjin and Hebei province
