China has doubled the number of countries whose citizens are eligible for visa-free travel, extending 30-day travel with no need for a visa to people from 75 countries. The policy to open up to foreign visitors, intended to boost the Chinese economy and increase the country’s soft power, has been going on since late 2023, in a post-COVID move to revitalise tourism after one of the world’s strictest and longest-lasting pandemic lockdowns.
Since that time, when citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia were given the right to visa-free travel, almost the entire European bloc has been accorded the same. South America also benefits, with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay on the visa-free train, as well as central Asia’s Uzbekistan and (from 16 July) Azerbaijan, and nations in the Middle East.
Welcome to China on VISA-FREE!
— Shen Shiwei 沈诗伟 (@shen_shiwei) May 28, 2025
China travel and China fun!
By far, China has announced the expansion of its visa-free policy to 47 countries! 🌍 pic.twitter.com/VHk8c9WfSY
While most of the visa-free countries are part of the programme under a year-long trial, the scheme is proving popular. China’s National Immigration Administration has said that 20 million foreign visitors entered China without visas in 2024. Visa-free travel makes up a third of all international arrivals, the latest figures show, a 100% increase year-on-year.
Commercial feedback is also good. Trip.com reports twice as many China trips made in the first three months of 2025, compared to the same period the previous year. Three-quarters of those bookings were made by visa-free visitors.
Most African nations are excluded from the visa-free list. In addition, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada do not currently benefit from visa-free travel to China, though, like 52 other countries, they are allowed so-called “transit stays” of up to 10 days when arriving in China at 60 different points of entry.
Another notable exception, especially given the swathe of European Union nations that have been granted visa-free access, is Sweden. Diplomatic relations between China and Sweden have been tense since the 2020 disappearance from Thailand and subsequent incarceration in China of Swedish publisher and author Gui Minhai, who is serving a decade-long sentence for works that are critical of China.
Despite concerns over China’s failure to adhere to international justice norms in what appears to be a special rendition in the case of Minhai, the World Travel and Tourism Council’s spring 2025 Economic Impact Research (EIR), named China “one of the world’s most dynamic Travel & Tourism markets, marking a significant comeback and long-term growth trajectory.” The sector is expected to generate a record revenue of ¥13.7 trillion in 2025, supporting over 83 million jobs.
