Foreign business representatives have welcomed China’s decision to resume issuing tourist and other visas, but have warned that more steps are needed to boost people-to-people exchanges.
Beijing said it would issue all categories of visa for foreigners starting from Wednesday, dropping the last barrier to cross-border travel imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Visa-free entry for designated places and groups – for example cruise ships visiting Shanghai – will also resume.
“This announcement is one of the final steps in restoring international travel and reconnecting China with the world,” the British Chamber of Commerce in China said.
“International talent in China will no doubt take comfort in the fact that they can more easily reunite with friends and family outside of China.
“We hope that these further steps will boost international interest in engaging with China and ultimately result in an increase in visitors to the country.”
The country’s new premier Li Qiang said China would keep opening up and attract more foreign capital on Monday during his first press conference in the role.
Colm Rafferty, the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, described the announcement as “a welcome relief after three exhausting years of disruption”.
“Today’s long-awaited announcement removes a significant barrier to the normalisation of travel.
“Moving forward, we urgently seek more flight options to and from the US, which will help to bring ticket prices back to an affordable level, as well as improved visa processing times,” Rafferty said.
Rafferty said US companies in China sought deeper in-person communications between the two governments to address and resolve outstanding areas of concern and the new visa policy would be beneficial in that regard.
“We also believe that the return of people-to-people exchanges – which the announcement finally makes possible – will help to facilitate mutual understanding, which is key for any relationship.”
The announcement comes at a time when relations between China and the United States are continuing to deteriorate, with recent incidents such as the row over an alleged Chinese spy balloon and the prospect of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meeting Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen adding to the tensions.
Joerg Wuttke, the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce, called it a “welcome step” but argued “it is only one of many that are needed to change the game for business”.
“Resuming international flights to pre-pandemic levels will be needed to make it possible to fully restore people-to-people exchanges, but investors – and talent – also need to see evidence that China is once again a predictable and reliable place to do business, and that could take some time,” Wuttke said.
Only 115.7 million trips were made in and out of the country last year – less than a fifth of the 2019 figure.
Travel started to rebound after China officially abandoned zero-Covid in January.
The number of international flights this year is expected to reach 50 to 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels this year, according to a report in the China Securities Journal that cited an estimate from Citic Securities.
“The resumption of visas will greatly facilitate China’s international exchanges and will have a very positive effect on long-term global contacts within the country,” Li Qing, director of the talent research group at the Centre for China and Globalisation, a think tank based in Beijing, said.
“In the immediate future, the groups that will benefit most from this policy will be the overseas Chinese community and those who have close business ties with China.”
Tao Zhou, head of the hotels and hospitality group for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle, estimated that tourist numbers would start to increase in the second half of the year in line with the trend seen after business visa restrictions were lifted.
“Definitely the new visa policy will have a positive impact on the tourism and hotel industry,” Zhou said, “We have already seen that business executives from multiple international companies are visiting China and tourists will follow.”
A total of 145 million overseas tourists arrived in China in 2019, according to the China Tourism Academy.
