Hotel bookings in China have grown significantly from countries covered under a temporary visa exemption implemented this month, according to data from China-based global travel distribution company DidaTravel.
As of Dec. 1, China allows visitors from six countries—France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Spain—to enter China without a visa for stays of up to 15 days. The policy, which will continue until Nov. 30 of next year, applies to business travelers as well as tourists and those visiting family.
In the first week that policy was implemented, from Dec. 1 to Dec. 7, hotel bookings in China from those countries increased 50 percent compared with the previous week, according to DidaTravel. Bookings from Spain were double the previous week, and bookings from Malaysia were up 67 percent, the company reported. Those two countries, along with Italy, have been among the top 20 markets for inbound travel to China this year.
“We were really excited about the growth opportunity for China’s inbound tourism sector as a result of this news, and these initial figures are very encouraging,” DidaTravel founder and CEO Rikin Wu said in a statement.
A China foreign ministry spokesperson last week said daily average tourist numbers from those six countries were 39 percent higher on the first three days of December compared with the last day of November, according to Reuters. China will continue to work with its visa policies “to create more favorable conditions” for easier cross-border travel, he said in the report.
[email protected] (Michael B. Baker)
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