Visa-free transit policy, cashless payments attract tourists

China's visa-free transit policy has been highly favored by foreigners who use it for travel and business.

So far, citizens from 54 countries in the world, including the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan are exempted from visa requirements during transit for 72 or 144 hours when heading for a third nation, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA).

A 72-hour visa-free transit policy is currently applied in the cities of Changsha, Guilin and Harbin, while international travelers are allowed to transit in 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin, up to 144 hours visa-free.

Since its inception in January 2013, more than 500,000 foreigners have traveled through China under the visa-free policy, said NIA.

The city's inbound tourism market has shown a good momentum of rapid recovery and the opening up of the service industry has been promoted owing to the policy that makes it much easier for foreigners to visit.

Statistics from NIA show that in the first two months of 2024, China recorded around 2.95 million inbound and outbound trips made by foreigners.

The mobile payments process is becoming more convenient at the country's tourism sites, cultural performance venues, restaurants and hotels, as Alipay and WeChat Pay, China's two major online payment platforms, have allowed foreign users to link international credit cards to their platforms.

Amazed at the country's modernity, brilliant culture and beautiful landscapes, overseas tourists have changed their ideas about China. Some bloggers have also recorded their wonderful trips to China on social media platforms to show the world the real and vibrant China.

On multiple platforms including Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, the Hutchinsons, a family of five from the UK have shown foreigners how easy, fantastic and efficient it is to buy things in China with WeChat Pay and Alipay.

They noted that once in China, people will realize that cashless payments are already a very common part of everyday life from local fruit stalls to bars, restaurants, cafes and shops.

Everybody uses mobile payments with cellphones across China. It provides smooth and convenient transactions all day, including shopping, dining, ordering takeout, and even transport.

They also demonstrated how easy it is for foreign travelers to register for WeChat Pay, even if they download the WeChat app from the Apple or the Android App Store outside of China. The simplest way is to use a valid payment card to register for WeChat and activate WeChat Pay before they get to China.

As a matter of fact, in most situations, people in China don't need to take any cash or credit cards with them.

When they consume or buy things, they can scan the QR codes at different venues with the apps and type the numbers they need to pay. They can set passwords or activate facial recognition and fingerprint scanning for the payments.

In the apps, consumers also have their own payment code, which is convenient for the stores to charge through their payment system. So it works both ways.

When the Hutchinsons arrived at Guangzhou – the third largest city in China at 1am, walking around looking for their hotel, they couldn't believe how safe and quiet they felt there. Some Chinese people were also willing to offer a hand.

Shanghai has also turned out to be an alluring destination for inbound tourists.

On a trip to Shanghai during the Spring Festival, an American YouTuber tried the tasty street food Jian Bing, Chinese crepes. He found the egg, vegetables and sauces in the crepe so yummy, dubbing it the perfect breakfast in Shanghai.

"It's got all that freshness from the greens and onions in there," the YouTuber said. "It's not too heavy. It's nice and light and very flavorful."

He also watched local old men playing cards and Chinese chess in the park, had fried pork chop and soup dumplings with pork and crab inside, enjoyed chewy noodles and a variety of Chinese rice wines on his journey.

China's profound history, amazing architecture, diverse styles of food and folk arts are attracting more and more foreign travelers to this land. The adoption of the visa-free transit policy is making their trips much easier.

Foreign blogger Harry Jaggard visited the People's Park and saw local citizens line dancing. He tried Chinese beer, robot coffee and one of his favorite Chinese dishes – roast duck, and experienced the tea culture and a foot massage in Shanghai.

Jaggard said in the video that the trip to China had completely blown away his former impression about the country. In his eyes, Chinese people are friendly and the city of Shanghai is super clean, super advanced and super modern.

German Youtuber Ken also enjoyed his journey to China, saying that many people just can't believe that he as a tourist had a genuinely good experience in China. Many foreign travelers think overall China is amazing, and it is a very free society.