“Welcome back! China reopens to visitors.”

China is now fully reopening its doors to foreign visitors, including tourists, following three years of border restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

The Chinese Embassy in the United States released a statement on Monday, in Chinese, announcing the resumption of all categories of visas for foreigners starting from Wednesday. According to the statement, travelers with multi-year visas issued before March 28, 2020, will be permitted to use them provided they have not expired. This announcement comes after China closed its borders to most overseas visitors in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

After China’s successful handling of the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent relaxation of Beijing’s “zero-Covid” policy, Chinese authorities have announced the resumption of all categories of visas for foreigners. The move comes as China aims to revive its economy, including the domestic tourism industry, which saw a year of tepid growth due to pandemic measures. In 2022, China registered only 115 million cross-border trips, a far cry from the pre-pandemic level of 670 million in 2019. The number of foreign visitors dropped to just 4.47 million last year due to Covid restrictions.

The Chinese Embassy’s statement on Monday revealed that visa-free entry to the southern island of Hainan and for cruise ships visiting Shanghai will resume.

Source: https://cnn.it/3o0BzY6