Hainan doubles visa-free access to boost tourism
Print Edition
CHINA will offer greater visa-free access for tourists from 59 countries going to Hainan from May 1, in a move to support reform and opening-up in the country’s southernmost island province, the State Immigration Administration announced yesterday.
Under the new policy, group and individual tourists from the 59 countries, including Russia, Britain, France, Germany and the United States, can visit Hainan visa-free and stay there for up to 30 days on condition that they book their tour through travel agencies.
Hainan has offered a 15-day visa-free stay for group tourists from 21 countries since 2000, and added a further five nations to the list in 2010.
“By extending the policy to individuals and the stay to up to 30 days, the government aims to attract more international tourists, nurture the tourism industry and meet the needs of foreign individuals,” said the administration’s vice head Qu Yunhai.
The visa-free access to Hainan is part of China’s effort to build the province into “a free trade port with Chinese characteristics,” as stated in the guidelines on supporting Hainan to deepen reform and opening-up, released by central authorities on Saturday.
The island has become a renowned tropical resort for overseas tourists, whose numbers exceeded 1.1 million in 2017, up nearly 50 percent from 2016.
Last year, Hainan received nearly 320,000 tourists from the 26 countries with visa-free access, 3.5 times the number recorded in 2016. Tourists from Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, South Korea and Russia accounted for more than 90 percent of the total.
“The policy will inject vitality into Hainan and bring us closer to our goal of becoming a world-class destination,” said Sun Ying, director of the provincial tourism development commission.
“Now, it’s our golden time,” said Li Yongquan, who has been a guide for foreign tourists in Hainan for 18 years. Li said local tourist guides should prepare themselves for the influx of foreign tourists.
The association of travel agencies in Haikou, capital of Hainan, plans to offer language and cultural training to employees with more than 200 local travel agencies, according to Mai Weiwen, secretary-general of the association.
More direct flights are planned to countries with visa-free access.
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