A large number of Vietnamese tourists flocked into Chinese cities last weekend shortly after the latest expansion of China's visa-free transit policy on August 20.
China has added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam to its 240-hour visa-free transit program, bringing the total number of countries eligible for this policy to 57, immigration authorities announced on Thursday.
Effective from Aug 20, citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam holding ordinary passports and interline passenger tickets with confirmed dates and itineraries bound for a third country or region may enter China through any of the 65 ports across the country and stay up to 240 hours, or 10 days, without a visa, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA).
As an important gateway for China's opening up and cooperation with ASEAN, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is actively developing cross-border tourism and opening high-quality weekend cross-border travel routes that offer convenient customs clearance and diverse experiences.
In the first seven months of this year, the number of Vietnamese passenger arrivals in and departures from ports in Guangxi reached 4.116 million, an increase of 10.1 percent year on year.
On Friday, the first weekend cross-border tour group of 240 Vietnamese tourists passed through the Dongxing Port in Guangxi, for sightseeing in Guangxi's Nanning and Chongzuo.
"I hope that during this trip to China's Guangxi, I will see beautiful landscapes, taste delicious food, and make more Chinese friends," said Duong Thu Giang, a Vietnamese tourist.
On Saturday morning, two flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, carrying a total of 306 passengers, landed smoothly at the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport in east China's Shandong Province.
Airports, customs administrations, border inspection and other departments have continuously upgraded supporting services to ensure convenient travel for inbound and outbound passengers.
"We have launched a zoned check-in service for international flights, enabling "cluster-style" cross-airline and cross-border through-check-in transfers, and providing free accommodation for international overnight transit passengers. We are also continuously expanding the entry card filling area and widening the verification and passage space," said Zhang Xiaochen, deputy manager of the quality management section, under the service management department of the Qingdao Airport Group.
As an important aviation hub facing South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Kunming Changshui International Airport in southwest China's Yunnan Province operates more than 570 international flights per week, with an average daily passenger flow of about 11,000. Currently, it has opened multiple passenger routes to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc Island and other destinations in Vietnam.
Vietnamese tourists flock to China as visa-free policy expands
