China’s cross-border trips, visa issuances soar in strong post-pandemic rebound

China issued more than 600,000 visas to foreign visitors in the third quarter, nearly 2.7 times the same number from the same period last year, in the strongest sign that travel has rebounded to pre-Covid levels, according to the latest data.

On Tuesday, data from the National Immigration Administration showed 123 million cross-border trips were recorded from July through September, a giant 454 per cent jump compared with the same period last year.

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Among them, 61.68 million trips were made by Chinese citizens, while foreigners who did not live in border cities made 8.01 million trips. In the first six months of this year, foreigners who did not live in border cities made 8.43 million trips across the border.

Residents from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan made a total of 50.17 million trips.

Meanwhile, some 608,000 visas were issued to international travellers in the third quarter, 268.5 per cent more than in the same period in 2022, when the administration said levels had “recovered to the same period of 2019”.

China reopened its borders to foreign visitors in January after nearly three years of pandemic-related travel restrictions, making it one of the last countries in the world to lift border controls.

Since then, the number of visas issued recovered slowly, but documents were often delayed, largely because of immense foreign demand, according to the administration.

Limited flights and steep airfares have also stalled travel to and from China.

The delayed rebound in inbound travel to China has caused widespread unease, as the world’s second largest economy grapples with a lengthy stall in its post-Covid recovery, and anxiety that the country could withdraw further into self-isolation, amid elevated tensions between China and the West.

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Beijing has implemented a series of measures over the past few months to ease travel across its borders in an attempt to boost international tourism and encourage foreign investment.

In July, a 15-day visa-free entry scheme was revived for citizens of Singapore and Brunei, and in September, Beijing formally ended the Covid-19 test requirement for inbound travellers.

In August, the public security ministry introduced 26 new measures, including allowing foreign travellers to upgrade their single-entry arrival visas to multiple-entry versions valid for up to three years.

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And last week, China announced that visa applicants would no longer be required to pre-schedule visa appointments online starting from Monday.

Beginning this month, the frequency of passenger flights between China and the US was expected to rise to 24 from 18 per week in September, under an agreement made in August.

Before the pandemic, there was an average of 350 flights a week between China and the US.

South China Morning Post