China’s relaxed entry rules bring more travel, but would-be tourists wary of remaining barriers

China’s policies to relax visa requirements or allow visa-free entry have increased the number of overseas visitors

But difficulties with mobile payments, internet limitations and remaining visa rules have deterred some from travel – or made things harder after arrival

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China has made it easier for some foreigners to visit, but difficulties still persist upon arrival. Illustration: Henry Wong

Published: 6:00am, 20 Mar 2024

In the past few weeks, China has come up with a series of measures to revive the number of inbound travellers and students to pre-pandemic levels. In the second of a two-part series, Ralph Jennings looks at the barriers that remain for overseas visitors despite policies to relax visa requirements or allow visa-free entry.

When John Chetwynd, a 28-year-old graduate of the University of San Francisco, visited China in July, his US-based bank became “concerned” about transactions made on the Alipay mobile payments platform. The bank had flagged a double charge and “international fees”, he said.

Eventually, the service stopped working entirely. So, for the remainder of the 10-day excursion, Chetwynd asked other people to use their phones for his purchases and reimbursed them in cash – a thorn in an otherwise eye-opening trip.

Chetwynd’s case is not unusual. Relaxations of visa and e-payment rules are stimulating foreign tourism to China this year – a welcome trend for the country, which sees travel as a source of much-needed economic stimulus – but lingering immigration hurdles, payment difficulties and internet restrictions are viewed as deterring many potential visits.

Foreign arrivals this year have a “hope” of returning to half their level in 2019 before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the China Tourism Academy said via state media outlets last week.

Overseas visitors made 97.8 million trips in and out of China in 2019 and 35.6 million last year, the first since epidemic restrictions were lifted.

During the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday in February, China recorded 3.23 million tourism-related entries, roughly the same as the festival period in 2019, the official Xinhua News Agency said in February.

A big boost to these figures came in December, when China began allowing citizens of certain countries to enter visa-free for 15 days.

The number of tourists from those countries – now 11 in Europe and three in Southeast Asia – “has increased significantly”, Xinhua said, citing figures stating their Lunar New Year arrivals were double those of the same period in 2019.