Foreign tourists have a group photo taken at the Palace Museum in Beijing on September 5, 2024. Photo: VCG

China's recent expansion of its visa-free policy has captured wide attention from various countries involved, as numerous local media have covered the surging interests. Concurrently, there has been a marked increase in search queries, propelling Chinese destinations to the forefront of searches of the travel platforms.

In order to further facilitate personnel exchanges between China and other countries, China has decided to expand its visa-free arrangement to include more countries, said spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday. He noted that from Nov 30, 2024, to Dec 31, 2025, visa exemption will be applied to ordinary passport holders from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan on a trial basis. 

The addition will expand the coverage of China's unilateral visa-free policy from 29 to 38 countries.

Večernji List, a Croatian media outlet, said on Friday that the visa-free news is great for Croatian citizens. In the comments section of the news, a netizen said that this is exactly what they need - to visit China and experience its high-speed trains and metropolitan cities.

Shortly after the announcement of the visa-free policy on Friday, Trip.com's international platforms witnessed a surge of interest in Chinese cities, with searches rising by 65 percent on its European site and 112 percent on its Japanese site within 30 minutes. Interest in direct flights from various cities in Japan to China also saw a notable spike, said the Xinhua News Agency.

Japan was one of the three countries with visa-free entry before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government had repeatedly requested an early resumption, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters, according to Associated Press.

The ease of visa policies has shown remarkable results. According to China's National Immigration Administration, in the first three quarters of this year, China received 94.63 million inbound trips, up by 78.8 percent year-on-year.

China's implementation of a visa-free entry policy for South Korean citizens from November 8 has significantly boosted demand for travel to China, according to South Korean media outlet AJU Press on Monday. Data from Hana Tour, one of South Korea's largest travel agencies, shows that within just three weeks of the policy's implementation, bookings for travel to China increased by 75%, with some travel products seeing growth rates exceeding 100%.

Popular destinations include Zhangjiajie (28.8%), Changbai Mountain (9.2%), Qingdao (11.1%), and Shanghai (9.6%).

A Hana Tour representative said to AJU Press that, "In the past, travelers to China accounted for over 30% of our outbound tourists, making it a highly significant market. The implementation of this visa-free policy will drive strong market demand." 

The Star news in Malaysia also noted China's efforts in promoting people-to-people exchanges among students, academics, and others.

As the adage goes, "seeing is believing." Experts said to the CCTV news that China's visa-free policies have made it easier for foreign tourists to explore and understand the country. Independent and immersive travel are now the top choices for inbound tourists, helping more people discover a diverse and authentic China.

S.L. Kanthan, an influencer on Twitter with 154.9k followers, posted: "Stop believing Western lies and see it for yourself!" Other users interacted with the post, commenting, "That's a big move for travel!" and "That's so cool!"

Global Times