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China reports 4 times more cross-border trips by foreigners, but total still below pre-pandemic levels
- More than 13 million foreigners enter or exit mainland China in first quarter as Beijing introduces visa-free policies for parts of Europe and Asia
- Immigration agency issues 6.35 million passports to mainland Chinese after Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia announce visa exemptions
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Foreign travellers made four times more trips in and out of China in the first quarter of the year but the total remained below pre-pandemic levels, according to official data.
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The National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on Thursday that more than 13 million foreigners crossed the border into or out of mainland China in the first three months of the year, compared with 3.22 million at the same time last year, soon after Beijing abandoned most of its Covid-19 border control measures.
The surge in travel followed China’s launch of wide-ranging visa exemption policies late last year and early this year for major economies in Europe and Southeast Asia, including France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and Malaysia.
Around 1.98 million foreigners travelled to China without a visa in the first quarter, a 266 per cent year-on-year increase.
Despite the strong rise in cross-border trips, the data still fell short compared to the first quarter of 2019.
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