On March 7^th, the Foreign Ministry's Department of Consular Affairs released the latest announcement on its WeChat official account "Consular Express":In order to further promote the exchange of people between China and foreign countries, China has decided to expand the scope of visa-free countries. The trial visa-free policy will be extended to holders of ordinary passports from six countries: Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

From March 14^thto November 30^th, 2024, individuals with ordinary passports from the countries mentioned above can enter China without a visa for purposes such as business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, or transit, for a period of no more than 15 days. Those who do not meet the visa-free requirements from these countries still need to obtain a visa before entering China.

Following the announcement, the tourism market responded swiftly. The search volume for flights to and from the relevant countries on the Tongcheng Travel platformrapidly increased. By noon, the search volume for relevant flights had grown nearly fourfold compared to the same period the previous day.

It is reported that the six countries included in this visa-free arrangement have close ties with China in terms of tourism and sightseeing. According to data from Tongcheng Travel, the daily booking volume of inbound flights to Austria increased by 70% in March compared to January and February, and the daily booking volume of inbound flights to Switzerland increased by 52%. Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing have shown high booking volumes for round-trip flights to and from these countries.

Data from Trip.com Group, an online travel agency, shows that in February 2024, among the six countries announced for visa-free entry, Hungary has seen its flight capacity to Chinaexceedingtwice the level of the same period in 2019, while the flight capacity from Belgium to China has recovered to about 90% of the same period in 2019. It is expected that the number of tourists from these two countries to China will grow the fastest.

It should be noted that in December 2023, China had already implemented a trial visa-free entry policy for holders of ordinary passports from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. This latest announcement means that China's unilateral visa-free policy for holders of ordinary passports will now apply to a total of 12 countries.

Source :Yangcheng Evening News

中国宣布对瑞士等6国试行免签

3月7日，外交部领事司微信公众号“领事直通车”发布最新通知：为进一步促进中外人员往来，中方决定扩大免签国家范围，对瑞士、爱尔兰、匈牙利、奥地利、比利时、卢森堡6个国家持普通护照人员试行免签政策。

2024年3月14日至11月30日期间，上述国家持普通护照人员来华经商、旅游观光、探亲访友和过境不超过15天，可免签入境。上述国家不符合免签条件人员仍须在入境前办妥来华签证。

消息公布后，旅游市场应声反应。同程旅行平台相关国家出入境机票搜索量快速上涨，截至中午12点，相关机票搜索量较前日同一时段增长近4倍。

据悉，本次免签的6个国家与中国在旅游观光等方面往来密切。据同程旅行数据，其中，奥地利3月入境机票日均预订量较1-2月增长70%，瑞士入境机票日均预订量增长52%。北京、上海、广州、杭州、南京等城市与相关国家之间往返机票预订量较高。

携程数据显示，今年2月份，此次宣布免签的6国中，匈牙利来中国的航班运力已超过2019年同期2倍，比利时飞赴中国航班运力约恢复至2019年同期九成，预计此两国赴华旅游人数将增长最快。

记者了解到，此前，中国已于2023年12月对法国、德国、意大利、荷兰、西班牙、马来西亚6个国家持普通护照人员试行入境免签政策，此次意味着中方对持普通护照人员试行单方面免签政策的国家将增至12个。

文 | 记者 刘星彤 通讯员 李栋 饶思碧 陈怡如
译 | 赵凡