Int'l travel fair attendees in Shanghai praise China's efforts to welcome tourists

Global exhibitors and attendees at the China International Travel Mart 2024 in Shanghai lauded China's expanded visa-free policies and offered their thoughts on how the country can continue to attract more inbound tourism.

Exhibitors from more than 80 countries and regions gathered at the event, which opened on Friday, to discuss travel facilitation, new product offerings, and international-regional cooperation.

The three-day fair has attracted more than 1,000 international exhibitors and nearly 600 travel agencies, along with over 600 offline buyer-seller meetings, according to the organizers.

Themed "Nihao! China", the event has staged promotional activities to show the world why China remains a must-go destination for global travelers.

In the first three quarters of 2024, China welcomed approximately 95 million international tourists, recovering to over 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism outlines four key priorities to boost inbound tourism, including more favorable entry policies, travel convenience services, targeted international promotional campaigns, and inviting global travel operators for on site trips.

China's Foreign Ministry has simplified visa procedures, reducing processing fees by 25 percent and eliminating visa appointment requirements. Applicants now receive visas within four working days, with fingerprint exemptions further easing the process. For a growing number of countries, visa requirements have been waived altogether.

"For now, for Spanish nationals, to remove that visa is fantastic. It makes everything easy and also a little cheaper," said Julio Gonzalez Quijano, director general of Dimensiones Club in Spain.

"I think the change to the visa situation is a real positive step. My understanding is there's only about 12 months more of that existing arrangement that's under consideration. If that could be extended by longevity or made permanent, that would be a real, huge incentive for overseas travelers to come to the country," said Daniel Mcloughlin, a strategic solutions manager at FCM Travel Solutions Australia.

The country has also been striving to make experiences more convenient for international tourists. The People's Bank of China introduced an eight-language payment guide to promote inclusive financial services, from mobile payments to cash and card options.

Efforts have resulted in increased travel demand, and the Civil Aviation Administration has steadily restored international routes with over 6,000 weekly flights, meeting more than 80 percent of annual targets.

During the Travel Mart event, the Chinese Tourism Academy also shared insights into inbound travel trends, highlighting that international tourists are increasingly drawn to niche destinations, local lifestyles, and independent travel experiences.

International travel companies concur with this assessment.

"French people are really interested in gastronomy, so a gastronomic tour could be nice. And French people love to go to parts that there is not many visitors. I want to discover regions of China that I don't know well to organize some new kind of things that are not proposed in other agencies," said Sandrine Fortin, a representative for France's Asie Online.

Covering an exhibition area of 53,000 square meters, the China International Travel Mart 2024 showcases diverse fields of the tourism sector, including Chinese and international cultures and tourism, tourism-related technologies, cultural creative products, and tourism services.

Int'l travel fair attendees in Shanghai praise China's efforts to welcome tourists

The United States cannot legitimize an operation that attacked Venezuela and captured its president, a Chinese scholar said Sunday.

On Saturday, the United States launched a large-scale strike on Venezuela, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were 'captured and flown out of Venezuela' according to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account.

Teng Jianqun, director of the Center for Diplomatic Studies at Hunan Normal University, said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) that the aim of this operation is to take full control of Venezuela’s natural resources.

"I don't think the United States can legitimize this operation to take custody of the president of Venezuela. And also I don't think the United States can legitimize its any action in taking the oil reserves of that country. This is actually a very dangerous game played by the Trump administration. And of course, the United States would like to take full control of that country and to take full control of the natural resources, especially the large reserve of oil in Venezuela," said Teng.

Teng said Venezuela is not an isolated case but a common practice by the United States. The United States launched an invasion of Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, which continued until January 1990, with the stated objective of capturing Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking and organized crime.

"We still remember the so-called sentence of the former president of Panama in the late 1980s. And this time, the president of Venezuela will be under some judicial condition (judicial proceedings) for the so-called drug trafficking and some other crimes. So I think this is not a single case for the Venezuela country, but also this is actually a practice by the United States -- to use force, to use so-called justice under law against any leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean waters," he said.

US cannot legitimize operation against Venezuela: Chinese scholar