Visa-free access to Türkiye drives surge in Chinese outbound travel interest

Türkiye's Wednesday announcement of visa-free travel policy for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports for tourism and transit has triggered an instant spike in travel interest, driving a sharp increase in flight searches on major Chinese travel platforms.

Under the new regulations signed by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Chinese travelers will be exempt from visa requirements for stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period. The policy is set to take effect on Jan. 2.

Data from the online travel service provider Qunar show that since the policy was announced, search volumes for flights from the Chinese mainland to Türkiye have surged rapidly as of 10:00 on Thursday.

In particular, searches for flights to Türkiye's largest city of Istanbul increased by more than threefold compared with the previous week, while searches for popular tourist destinations including Antalya and Izmir have also grown exponentially.

"In terms of popular departure cities, the Top Ten most searched ones are Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing and Xiamen, which all recorded week-on-week growth of over 200 percent," said Shi Ke, a researcher from big data research institute of Qunar.

Travel agencies are also feeling the trend. Previously, traveling to Türkiye would require an e-visa. With the entry into effect of the visa-free policy, travelers can save about 500 yuan (about 57.17 U.S. dollars) in visa fees and reduce documentation preparation and processing time, further enhancing travel convenience, according to Shanghai-based travel agency Spring Tour.

The visa-free regime, coupled with the extended nine-day Spring Festival holiday season in February 2026, is expected to continue stimulating demand for medium- and long-distance outbound travel.

Searches for Türkiye-only in-depth tours and combined itineraries linking Türkiye with Greece and Egypt saw a sharp rise on the platform of Spring Tour travel agency on Thursday morning, increasing by over 100 percent over the previous day.

Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Spring Tour, said that to match the upcoming extended Spring Festival holiday, more customized travel products will be rolled out to meet diverse customer demands.

Iran's response to the latest U.S. proposed text for ending the war was sent on Sunday to the Pakistani mediator, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

According to the proposed plan, at this stage, negotiations will focus on ending the war in the region, the IRNA report said.

On Feb 28, Israel and the United States launched joint strikes on Tehran and other cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior commanders, and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. interests in the region.

A ceasefire took effect on April 8, followed by talks between Iranian and U.S. delegations in Islamabad, Pakistan that failed to produce a deal.