Almost all of Europe is included in the policy, with the notable high-income exceptions of Sweden and the UK.
Travellers from dozens of countries – including much of Europe – can now enter China without a visa, as the country opens up in a bid to revive tourism.
Citizens from 74 countries can now enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, a big jump from previous regulations.
The government has been steadily expanding visa-free entry in a bid to boost tourism, the economy and its soft power. More than 20 million foreign visitors entered without a visa in 2024 – more than double from the previous year, according to the National Immigration Administration.
“This really helps people to travel because it is such a hassle to apply for a visa and go through the process,” Giorgi Shavadze, a Georgian living in Austria, said on a recent visit to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.
China’s tourism industry gears up after years of slow recovery
While most tourist sites are still packed with far more domestic tourists than foreigners, travel companies and tour guides are now bracing for a bigger influx in anticipation of summer holidaymakers coming to China.
“I’m practically overwhelmed with tours and struggling to keep up,” says Gao Jun, a veteran English-speaking tour guide with over 20 years of experience. To meet growing demand, he launched a new business to train anyone interested in becoming an English-speaking tour guide. “I just can’t handle them all on my own,” he said.
After lifting tough COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, China reopened its borders to tourists in early 2023, but only 13.8 million people visited in that year – less than half the 31.9 million in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
30-day entry for many in Europe
In December 2023, China announced visa-free entry for citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia. Almost all of Europe has been added since then.
Travellers from five Latin American countries and Uzbekistan became eligible last month, followed by four in the Middle East. The total will grow to 75 on 16 July with the addition of Azerbaijan.
About two-thirds of the countries have been granted visa-free entry on a one-year trial basis.
For Norwegian traveller Øystein Sporsheim, this means his family would no longer need to make two round-trip visits to the Chinese embassy in Oslo to apply for a tourist visa – a time-consuming and costly process with two children in tow. “They don’t very often open, so it was much harder,” he said.
Europeans driving a tourism rebound
“The new visa policies are 100 per cent beneficial to us,” said Jenny Zhao, a managing director of WildChina, which specialises in boutique and luxury routes for international travellers. She said business is up 50 per cent compared with before the pandemic.
While the United States remains their largest source market, accounting for around 30 per cent of their current business, European travellers now make up 15–20 per cent of their clients – a sharp increase from less than 5 per cent before 2019, according to Zhao.
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