New alliance established in GD to promote visa-free policy for foreign visitors

Aiming to develop the coastal tourism in 14 coastal cities across the province, the Guangdong Coastal (Island) Tourism Alliance was officially established in Guangzhou on March 5th, 2021.

Nansha cruise port (Photo/Xinhua)

The new tourism alliance will strengthen cooperation on cruise tourism between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and promote the implementation of a series of policies, such as the 144-hour visa-free period for foreign visitors transiting via cruise home ports and the 15-day visa-free policy specified for foreign cruise-group-tours.

According to the newly signed charter, the alliance adopts a joint meeting system, in which its annual meeting will be held on a rotational basis among member cities to research and coordinate the crucial matters of the coastal tourism development. In addition, the development and construction of coastal cultural tourism projects will also be further pushed forward.

As the first rotating chairmanship of the alliance, Guangzhou will work with Hong Kong and Shenzhen to develop the cruise line economy, exploring yacht self-guided tours and so on, according to Liu Yumei, head of Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau.

Lingding Island, Zhuhai (Photo: Guan Mingrong)

The 14 allied cities include Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shantou, Chaozhou, Jieyang, Shanwei, Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang.

Located on the shore of the South China Sea, Guangdong is rich in coastal tourism resources. The total length of its island coastline is 2,378.7 kilometers, ranking first in the country. The province also has 1,963 islands with a total area of 1,513 square kilometers, including 57 inhabited islands.

Author | Nancy (intern)