China saw a strong rise in foreign arrivals in the first quarter of the year, as Beijing’s expanded visa-free policy and a wider push to ease cross-border travel helped bring more overseas visitors back into the country.
Spokesperson for China’s National Immigration Administration said on Friday, April 10, that China recorded 185 million cross-border trips in the first quarter, up 13.5% from a year earlier. The increase, he said, reflected the impact of broader visa-free access and a range of measures introduced to make international travel more convenient. The National Immigration Administration is commonly referred to in English as the NIA.
Of the total, foreign nationals made 21.33 million trips into China, a rise of 22.3% year on year. That growth outpaced the increase in travel by mainland Chinese residents and by travellers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Mainland residents accounted for nearly 91.67 million trips, up 14.2%, while travellers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan made nearly 72.5 million trips, up 10.3%.
Visa-free entry accounted for a significant share of the increase. During the same period, nearly 8.32 million foreign visitors entered China without a visa, up 29.3% from a year earlier.