The Department of Consular Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that starting from March 15, the visa agencies stationed abroad resumed issuing various types of visas for foreigners to China. Chinese experts and heads of foreign companies said that this will not only greatly boost the tourism industry that has been hit by the epidemic, but also have a positive impact on the flow of personnel and business exchanges of multinational companies.

On March 14, the Department of Consular Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the "Notice on Further Adjusting the Visa and Entry Policies for Foreigners in China" on the WeChat official account Consular Express. It pointed out that in order to further facilitate the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel, it has been decided to make the following adjustments to the visa and entry policies for foreigners coming to China from 00:00 on March 15, 2023, Beijing time: Visa entry function within the validity period. 2. The visa agencies stationed abroad resume the review and issuance of various types of visas for foreigners to go to China. For specific requirements, please refer to the Instructions for Applying for a Visa. 3. Port visa agencies resume reviewing and issuing various port visas that meet statutory reasons. 4. Reinstate the policies of visa-free entry to Hainan, visa-free cruise ships in Shanghai, visa-free entry to Guangdong by groups of foreigners from Hong Kong and Macau, and visa-free policies for ASEAN tour groups to enter Guilin, Guangxi.

Professor Wang Guohua, director of the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries of Beijing University of Technology, said that China's announcement of the above-mentioned policy after the two sessions represents China's attitude of further relaxing epidemic prevention measures. This news is a major event for the tourism and foreign trade industries. Good. Professor Wang Guohua said that China has not seen a second wave of the epidemic, and now that the two sessions are over, it is necessary to vigorously develop the economy, and it is very important to allow foreigners to come to China. China very much hopes that international tourists can come to China to drive the development of China's economy. In the past, many personnel from foreign-funded enterprises invested in China, but they were unable to come due to the epidemic. Once this policy is released, it will definitely promote the flow of personnel and the development of trade in services.

Alexander Plotnikov, general manager of Silk Road International Company, said that China's resumption of review and issuance of various types of visas for foreigners to China is very important and good news for their company to conduct business with China. Our company is located in Ljubljana, Slovenia and has been cooperating with China since 2015. COVID-19 has been a huge challenge for our team. Our company's main business is education and employment, so for more than two years our work has been greatly reduced. The adjustment of this policy is the good news we have been waiting for for a long time. We are now receiving more and more applications every day, which has had a very positive impact on our company's work and business development.

This is another optimization and adjustment of China's entry-exit policy after January 2023. The National Health and Medical Commission of China issued an announcement on December 26 last year, announcing that starting from January 8, 2023, people coming to China will be tested for nucleic acid 48 hours before their departure, and those with negative results can come to China. Nucleic acid testing will no longer be implemented for all personnel entering the country, and those who have normal health declarations and no abnormalities in the routine quarantine at customs ports can be released to enter the community. Cancel the number control measures for international passenger flights such as "five ones", "one country, one policy" and passenger load factor restrictions, increase the number of flights in stages, and optimize the distribution of routes.

In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China issued a notice on March 10 that starting from March 15, 2023, national travel agencies and online travel companies will resume the pilot operation of Chinese citizens going to relevant countries (the second batch) for outbound group travel and "air ticket + hotel" business . From now on, travel agencies and online travel companies can carry out preparations for product releases, publicity and promotion, etc. In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China also announced the list of 40 countries for outbound tourism, plus the previously announced first batch of 20 countries that have resumed outbound tourism and related businesses on a pilot basis. So far, China has resumed outbound group tours to 60 countries.

Fitch Ratings said China's move to lift restrictive policies aimed at curbing the spread of the new coronavirus at home could help a rapid recovery in tourism in Asia - a region whose travel and tourism market was highly dependent on Chinese outbound tourists before the outbreak. According to the statistics of FLIGHTAI, a subsidiary of the Chinese travel service company Ctrip, the passenger traffic volume of China's civil aviation cross-border market from January to February 2023 will recover to 12% of the same period in 2019. Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asia are the main travel destinations for tourists, among which Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have recovered significantly, and have recovered to 25% before the epidemic. The capacity of the cross-border market has steadily recovered, and the number of flights in the first ten days of March has recovered to 21% of that before the epidemic. Judging from the search data, the search data in the next month has returned to the pre-epidemic level. Among them, the search index in the two days before the May Day holiday increased by 88% year-on-year in 2019. With the recovery of transportation capacity, the May Day holiday is expected to usher in an outbound boom.Editor/XingWentao