6 Days in Beijing! 30 in Hainan! Wait there's more!

[Randy W]

. . . visa-free, while transiting to a third country

 

 

South China Morning Post

December 29, 2017 at 8:15pm ·

Good news for those who want to stopover in Beijing visa-free – unless you're from Malaysia, Indonesia, India or Vietnam.

 

 

on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/10155946827699820/

 

https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/10155946827699820/

 

 

 

South China Morning Post

December 29, 2017 at 8:15pm ·

Good news for those who want to stopover in Beijing visa-free – unless you're from Malaysia, Indonesia, India or Vietnam.

[Allon]

That SCMP seems quite a periodical.

[amberjack1234]

I can't see why anyone would want to go to Beijing in the winter when you can't see the building next to you.

[Randy W]

in the SCMP

 

US among 59 countries granted visa-free access to China’s resort island Hainan ... but who’s missing?

The move, adding to a state programme to spur water sports and horse racing announced earlier, seeks to remake Hainan from a backwater into “Asia’s Hawaii”, analysts said

 

Starting May 1, passport holders from the UK, the US, Canada and scores of other European and Asian countries will be allowed to enter Hainan for stays of up to 30 days, according to an announcement Wednesday by the State Immigration Authority.

Absent from the list are African countries, countries on the Indian subcontinent, as well as three members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean): Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

 

 

[Randy W]

. . . and now

 

144-Hour Visa-Free Transit in China

China's 144-hour visa-free transit policy is carried out in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning as well as Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, to facilitate international travelers. It allows passengers from 53 countries or regions to transit in either Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region or Liaoning Province for no more than 144 hours (6 days) without holding a visa.

As of January 1, 2019, Chengdu, Xiamen, Qingdao, Wuhan, and Kunming will also adopt the 144-hour visa-free transit, and Guangdong is likely to implement this scheme as well.

 

 

[Randy W]

. . . and sure enough - from China Daily. Beginning May 1, 2019

 

Guangdong ready for visa-free visits

Guangdong province in South China will allow overseas travelers from 53 nations and regions to enjoy a 144-hour visa-free visit starting in May, with an aim to further promote the province’s tourism industry.

Lin Weixiong, deputy director general of the Guangdong Department of Public Security, said foreign passengers can visit all of Guangdong’s 21 prefecture-level cities when they have entered the province.

“In addition to the international airports, foreigners can enter and leave Guangdong through the four railways, the eight land and 15 water ports in the province,” Lin said at a press conference in the Guangdong provincial capital of Guangzhou on Tuesday.

“The new visa-free policy will play a very active role in promoting regional economic construction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and advancing cooperation between Guangdong and the neighboring Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in the following years,” Lin said.

The entry and exit and customs departments have now established special channels in airports, rail, land and water ports and are preparing to help foreign travelers through the procedures for 144-hour visa-free stays in Guangdong, he added.

 

 

[Randy W]

. . . but, Wait! There's more! from the SCMP

 

China extends six-day visa-free tourist stopover scheme to 27 ports and cities

• Visa scheme is being extended in effort to increase tourism revenues
• Official figures say visa-free short stays are becoming popular with visitors

 

free selfies!

 

Tourism industry figures say that 74 per cent of visitors to China are from Hong Kong and Macau. Photo: Reuters

 

 

 

From December 1, tourists from 53 countries can gain entry without a visa to 20 cities through the ports for up to 144 hours, the National Immigration Administration said.

. . .

Visitors need a current passport and tickets to a destination outside China that are valid within the visa-free period to gain entry.

 

, , ,

 

In most cases, visitors will be limited to the city where they arrived, but inbound travellers at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport in southwestern China will be able to visit 11 cities across Sichuan province.

 

. . .

 

The number of tourists to China has grown steadily in the past four years, although 74 per cent of those were from Hong Kong and Macau, a report by the World Tourism Alliance and the China Tourism Academy said last month.

 

 

 

Tourists from Hong Kong and Macau count as foreign visitors, even though they're from the same country, since they need a passport to get in.