CCTV News: The New Year’s Day holiday has just passed and the Spring Festival holiday is coming soon. The popularity of "China Travel" on popular social media has remained unabated, injecting strong impetus into economic development, and it also helps promote cultural exchanges, appreciate each other's culture, enhance mutual understanding, and continuously enrich the benign interaction between China and the world.
The entry of foreigners during the New Year's Day holiday increased by more than 30%.
Data from the State Immigration Administration showed that a total of 1.803 million Chinese and foreign personnel entered and left the country during the New Year's Day holiday this year, an increase of 13.7% over the same period last year. Among them, 185,000 foreigners were up 33.6% from the same period last year. The topic of "going to China after get off work on Friday" once topped the hot search list on South Korea's social media, and a large number of Southeast Asian tourists chartered flights to Northeast China to experience the Frozen.
The "China Tour" version is constantly "upgrading"
More and more foreign tourists come to China to "check in", and the "China Tour" version is constantly "upgrading". They are no longer satisfied with traditional tourist attractions, but go deep into the streets and alleys to feel the atmosphere of fireworks and experience the diverse folk culture of China. In order to allow inbound tourists to "come in" and "swim well", various places actively promote the convenience of inbound tourism payment services, so that inbound tourists can "travel", "buy" and "entertainment" will be smooth.
The new policy helps inbound tourists travel across provinces and many places
By the end of 2024, China will extend the residence time of transit visa-free foreigners in the country from both the original 72 hours and 144 hours to 240 hours. At the same time, 21 new ports are added as ports for transit visa-free people entering and leaving the country, and further expand the area for staying activities. A longer stay and a larger activity area make it more convenient for foreign tourists to conduct tourism, business and other activities across provinces and places, and better experience China's vast land and colorful landscape.
The number of visa-free inbound tourists has increased exponentially over the past year
Over the past year, China's visa-free "circle of friends" has been continuously expanding. At present, transit visa-free policies have been implemented for 54 countries, and unilateral visa-free policies have been piloted for 38 countries. From January to November 2024, 29.218 million foreigners entered the ports across the country, an increase of 86.2% year-on-year.
