China Expands Visa Exemption Mainly for Europe and Southeast Asia
Promotes Exemption Benefits to Accelerate Mutual Tourism Market Activation
Singapore is reaping significant benefits from the mutual visa exemption with China that came into effect last month. China has been actively promoting the revitalization of the tourism market resulting from the mutual visa exemption by reporting on this development daily.
On the 13th, Chinese economic media outlet Caixin and other local news sources cited a Singapore Tourism Board announcement, reporting that the number of mainland Chinese tourists visiting Singapore in February reached 327,000, an increase of more than eight times compared to the previous year (35,000). This figure far exceeds the overall foreign tourist growth rate in Singapore during the same period (1.44 million tourists, a 50% increase).
Earlier, on December 7 last year, the China-Singapore Bilateral Cooperation Joint Committee began discussions on mutual visa exemption, which was formalized on January 25 this year. Since then, major Chinese online travel platforms such as Ctrip and Tongcheng have seen a surge in searches related to travel to Singapore.
The proportion of Chinese tourists in Singapore's tourism market is quite significant. Last year, Indonesian tourists ranked first with 2.3 million visitors to Singapore, followed by Chinese tourists (1.4 million) and Malaysian tourists (1.1 million). In terms of revenue, China ($2.3 billion, 11.4%) surpasses Indonesia ($2.2 billion) in influence.
China is also reportedly actively engaging in mutual visa exemption discussions with Japan. Industry insiders agree that the implementation of visa exemption between the two countries is imminent. Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing at the end of January, "Japan has requested cooperation from the Chinese government to facilitate smooth travel exchanges." China is reportedly reviewing visa exemption for Japanese travelers while also promoting mutual visa exemption discussions. Before the spread of COVID-19, Japanese travelers could stay in China visa-free for up to 14 days.
The Chinese government announced that from the 14th of this month until November 30, it will implement visa exemption policies for ordinary passport holders from six countries: Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Prior to this, from December 1 last year until November 30 this year, the same measure was decided for six countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. Starting from the 1st, China and Thailand have mutually exempted visas for stays of up to 30 days.
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