BEIJING – Chinese province Hainan has resumed visa free entry for 59 countries, three years after the pandemic disrupted activities across the globe and made it virtually impossible to travel outside your city.
Visitors can stay for as much as 30 days in the province without a Chinese visa with just the condition that they should book their tour through Hainan-based travel agencies.
The list of the countries eligible are:
The United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Li,thuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Belarus and Monaco
The facilitiy of visa free access can be used for business, tourism, family visits, medical treatment, exhibitions or sports competitions.
Hainan is the southernmost province of China and another distinction is that it is the smallest in terms of land area. In 1988 this resource-rich tropical region became a separate province with current population hovering around 10 million.
Majority of the people in the province are Han Chinese, but about one-sixth are ethnic minorities. Yalong Bay and picturesque Tianya Haijiao of Sanya are tourists hotspots visited by globetrotters from across the world.
It merits mentioning that China is opening up to the world three year after the Covid-19 shut the dors of country to outside world. China recently announced to resume issuance of all types of visas.
The emergence of new Covid variant led to some countries impose restrictions on travelers from China; however, the restrictions are now being eased as EU countries are also announcing not to make it mandatory for travelers from China to have PCR test done before entry to the country.
China had imposed tough travel restrictions on international arrivals from March 28, 2020 when the Covid scare was at its peak across the globe. In December 2022, China shifted from “zero-Covid” to “living with Covid” and finally the fresh guidelines confirm that the country has opened up to the foreigners in what appears to be the ‘end of Covid era’.
