can chinese citizens travel abroad

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China Travel Advisory

Travel advisory april 12, 2024, mainland china, hong kong & macau - see summaries.

Updated due to new national security legislation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Summary: Reconsider travel to Mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions.

Exercise increased caution when traveling to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws .

Reconsider travel to the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) due to a limited ability to provide emergency consular services . Exercise increased caution when traveling to the Macau SAR due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws .

See specific risks and conditions in each jurisdiction .

Mainland China – Level 3: Reconsider Travel

Reconsider travel due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws , including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions .

Summary: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government arbitrarily enforces local laws, including issuing exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under the law.

The Department of State has determined the risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals by the PRC government exists in the PRC.

U.S. citizens traveling or residing in the PRC may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens in the PRC may be subjected to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law.

Foreigners in the PRC, including but not limited to businesspeople, former foreign-government personnel, academics, relatives of PRC citizens involved in legal disputes, and journalists have been interrogated and detained by PRC officials for alleged violations of PRC national security laws. The PRC has also interrogated, detained, and expelled U.S. citizens living and working in the PRC.

PRC authorities appear to have broad discretion to deem a wide range of documents, data, statistics, or materials as state secrets and to detain and prosecute foreign nationals for alleged espionage. There is increased official scrutiny of U.S. and third-country firms, such as professional service and due diligence companies, operating in the PRC. Security personnel could detain U.S. citizens or subject them to prosecution for conducting research or accessing publicly available material inside the PRC.

Security personnel could detain and/or deport U.S. citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the PRC, Hong Kong SAR, or Macau SAR governments.

In addition, the PRC government has used restrictions on travel or departure from the PRC, or so-called exit bans, to:

compel individuals to participate in PRC government investigations;
pressure family members of the restricted individual to return to the PRC from abroad;
resolve civil disputes in favor of PRC citizens; and
gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments.

U.S. citizens might only become aware of an exit ban when they attempt to depart the PRC, and there may be no available legal process to contest an exit ban in a court of law. Relatives, including minor children, of those under investigation in the PRC may become subject to an exit ban.

The PRC government does not recognize dual nationality. Dual U.S.-PRC citizens and U.S. citizens of Chinese descent may be subject to additional scrutiny and harassment. If you are a U.S. citizen and choose to enter Mainland China on travel documents other than a U.S. passport and are detained or arrested, the PRC government may not notify the U.S. Embassy or the U.S. Consulates General or allow consular access.

Check with the PRC Embassy in the United States for the most updated information on travel to the PRC. In some limited circumstances travelers to Mainland China may face additional COVID-19 testing requirements to enter some facilities or events.

The Department of State does not provide or coordinate direct medical care to private U.S. citizens abroad. U.S. citizens overseas may receive PRC-approved COVID-19 vaccine doses where they are eligible.

Do not consume drugs in the PRC or prior to arriving in the PRC. A positive drug test, even if the drug was legal elsewhere, can lead to immediate detention, fines, deportation, and/or a ban from re-entering the PRC. PRC authorities may compel cooperation with blood, urine, or hair testing. Penalties for drug offense may exceed penalties imposed in the United States.

Demonstrations : Participating in demonstrations or any other activities that authorities interpret as constituting an act of secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with a foreign country could result in criminal charges. Be aware of your surroundings and avoid demonstrations.

XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION, and TIBETAN AUTONOMOUS PREFECTURES

Extra security measures, such as security checks and increased levels of police presence and surveillance, are common in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, and Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures. Authorities may impose curfews and travel restrictions on short notice.

If you decide to travel to Mainland China:

Enter the PRC on your U.S. passport with a valid PRC visa and keep it with you.
Read the travel information page for Mainland China .
Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Avoid demonstrations.
Exercise caution in the vicinity of large gatherings or protests.
Avoid taking photographs of protesters or police without permission.
Keep a low profile.
If you are arrested or detained, ask police or prison officials to notify U.S. Embassy Beijing or the nearest U.S. Consulate General immediately.
Review the China Country Security Report from the Overseas Security Advisory Council.
Do not consume drugs in the PRC or prior to arriving in the PRC.
Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter . Follow U.S. Embassy Beijing on Twitter , WeChat , and Weibo .
Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page for the latest Travel Health Information related to the PRC.
Prepare a contingency plan for emergency situations.
Review the Traveler’s Checklist .

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) – Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution

Exercise increased caution due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws .

Summary: Hong Kong SAR authorities have dramatically restricted civil liberties since the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) imposed the Law of the PRC on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR on June 30, 2020. Following the Hong Kong SAR government’s enactment of its own Safeguarding National Security Ordinance on March 23, 2024, Hong Kong SAR authorities are expected to take additional actions to further restrict civil liberties.

The 2020 National Security Law outlines a broad range of vaguely defined offenses, such as acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign entities. The 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance builds on this framework with additional vaguely defined offenses, such as treason, insurrection, theft of state secrets, sabotage against public infrastructure, and external interference. According to the legislation, these offenses are applicable to foreign nationals within the Hong Kong SAR and to individuals, including U.S. citizens and permanent residents, located outside its borders. Under these provisions, anyone who criticizes the PRC and/or Hong Kong SAR authorities may face arrest, detention, expulsion, and/or prosecution. Hong Kong SAR authorities are attempting to enforce these provisions against individuals, including U.S. citizens and permanent residents, residing outside of their jurisdiction by offering cash rewards for information leading to their arrests in the Hong Kong SAR.

Dual Nationality: The Hong Kong SAR government does not recognize dual nationality. Dual U.S.-PRC citizens and U.S. citizens of Chinese descent may be subject to additional scrutiny and harassment. If you are a dual U.S.-PRC citizen and enter Hong Kong SAR on a U.S. passport, and you are detained or arrested, PRC authorities are under an obligation to notify the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. Consulate General of your detention and to allow U.S. consular officials to have access to you. In practice, however, U.S. consular officers may be prevented from providing consular assistance, even to those who have entered on their U.S. passports. For more information, visit Consular Protection and Right of Abode in HK(SAR) for Dual Nationals - U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau .

Demonstrations : Participating in demonstrations or any other activities that authorities interpret as constituting an act of secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with a foreign country could result in criminal charges under the 2020 National Security Law and/or the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. Be aware of your surroundings and avoid demonstrations.

If you decide to travel to the Hong Kong SAR:

Enter the Hong Kong SAR on your U.S. passport and keep it with you.
Read the travel information page for the Hong Kong SAR .
Be aware of your surroundings.
If you are arrested or detained, ask police or prison officials to notify U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau immediately.
Review the China Country Security Report from the Overseas Security Advisory Council.
Do not consume drugs in the Hong Kong SAR or prior to arriving in the Hong Kong SAR.
Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter . Follow U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau on Facebook and Twitter .
Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page for the latest Travel Health Information related to the Hong Kong SAR.
Monitor local media, local transportations sites, and apps like MTR Mobile or Citybus for updates.

Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) – Level 3: Reconsider Travel

Reconsider travel due to a limited ability to provide emergency consular services. Exercise increased caution due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws.

Summary: The U.S. government has a limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in the Macau SAR due to People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel restrictions on U.S. diplomatic personnel.

Even in an emergency, the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires all U.S. diplomatic personnel, including those accredited to the Macau SAR, to apply for and receive visas before entering the Macau SAR. Approval takes at least five to seven days, significantly limiting the U.S. government’s ability to offer timely consular services in the Macau SAR.

Dual Nationality: The Macau SAR government does not recognize dual nationality. Dual U.S.-PRC citizens and U.S. citizens of Chinese descent may be subject to additional scrutiny and harassment. If you are a dual U.S.-PRC citizen and enter the Macau SAR on a U.S. passport, and you are detained or arrested, PRC authorities are under an obligation to notify the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. Consulate General of your detention and to allow U.S. consular officials to have access to you. In practice, however, U.S. consular officers may be prevented from providing consular assistance, even to those who have entered on their U.S. passports. For more information, visit Consular Protection and Right of Abode in HK(SAR) for Dual Nationals - U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau .

If you decide to travel to the Macau SAR:

Enter the Macau SAR on your U.S. passport and keep it with you.
Read the travel information page for the Macau SAR .
If you are arrested or detained, ask police or prison officials to notify Review the China Country Security Report from the Overseas Security Advisory Council.
Do not consume drugs in the Macau SAR or prior to arriving in the Macau SAR.
Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter . Follow U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau on Facebook and Twitter .
Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page for the latest Travel Health Information related to the Macau SAR.
Monitor local media and the Macau Government Tourism Office website for updates.
Review your flight status with your airline or at the Macau International Airport website.

Travel Advisory Levels

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Chinese Travel Is Set to Return. The Question Is, When?

The country has dropped restrictions on overseas journeys for its citizens, but once-popular destinations are still waiting for the flood of vacationers to arrive.

Chinese tourists pose for snapshots in front of an elaborate Thai temple of filigreed stonework. Beside the temple is a smaller building with a red sloping roof and white walls, surrounded by a green lawn.

By Ceylan Yeginsu and Patrick Scott

When the first Chinese tourists landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok this month, they were greeted like celebrities with welcome banners, flowers, gifts, and a scrum of reporters and photographers.

It was the moment that hotels, airlines, tour operators and government officials had long been waiting for — the reopening of China’s borders after nearly three years of pandemic restrictions that effectively cut the world off from Chinese travelers, once the largest source of global tourism revenue.

“It is very exciting to visit warm beautiful places again,” said Hua Liu, 34, a graphic designer from Shanghai, who was among the first visitors to Thailand, where she took a two-week beach vacation late this month, as part of a Lunar New Year trip. “I will make up for the lost time,” she said in a telephone interview. Her plan: “Stay at nice hotels, book spa treatments, eat at fine restaurants and buy nice gifts for myself and my family.”

Before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed international travel in 2020, China sent more travelers overseas than any other market, with about 150 million Chinese tourists spending $277 billion abroad in 2018, according to a study by the United Nations World Tourism Organization and the China Tourism Academy. That outflow halted in 2020 and in the last year, even as countries around the world eased travel restrictions, China maintained an international travel ban for its citizens as part of its “zero Covid” policy.

But on Jan. 8, the Chinese government opened its borders, allowing foreign travelers to enter and Chinese residents to go overseas. Some in the travel industry were predicting a flood of international Chinese travelers after search interest for outbound flights from mainland China increased by 83 percent between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5, with international flight bookings up 59 percent in the same period, according to the Chinese online travel agency Ctrip .

But while there has been a bump in tourism to nearby destinations, including Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, farther-flung destinations are still waiting. In addition to high levels of Covid cases within China, Chinese travelers face long delays in getting passports and visas, high prices for international flights and a lack of capacity, since many carriers cut flights during China’s long lockdown. As of Friday, the number of airline seats available on direct flights from China to Britain in January was at about eight percent of those available in 2019, according to VisitBritain, the official tourist board. The first direct flight scheduled between China and Switzerland on Jan. 26 was canceled because of a lack of passengers.

Thailand gets ready

Before the pandemic, busloads of up to 700 Chinese tourists daily crowded into Maetaeng Elephant Park in the low-slung hills of northern Thailand, about an hour north of Chiang Mai.

Borprit Chailert, the park’s manager, is eagerly awaiting their return, but so far only about 40 Chinese vacationers have shown up, he said.

When they do arrive, renting elephants from nearby villagers to fortify his herd of 76 won’t be difficult, Mr. Chailert said. But it’s hard to know when to bring on more workers and where to find them, since many left the tourist region and switched jobs when tourism stopped, he said.

“If we want to hire 100 people today, we can’t do that because we’re not sure,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe in the next two months the Chinese government says, ‘We’re closing the border again.’”

With its economy heavily dependent on tourism, Thailand lost out on tens of billions of dollars in spending by Chinese tourists over the last three years. The Chiang Mai office of the Tourism Authority estimates that the city, known for its stunning Buddhist temples and heavy dependence on tourism, will welcome back about 600,000 Chinese visitors this year who will spend about $230 million — about half of the total from 2019.

The real numbers won’t start until the second quarter, people in the Thai travel sector say. Many Chinese tourists traditionally come to Thailand on group tours (they made up about half of the Chinese visitors in Chiang Mai), and the Chinese government is not letting tour operators restart their businesses until Feb. 6, and then only under a pilot program with about two dozen countries, including Thailand. For now, only independent Chinese tourists who can afford the expensive airfare are taking trips.

But not everyone is keen to welcome back group tours. Even before Covid, operators in Thailand and China saw a reversal of the group tour trend and a shift toward more tech-savvy Chinese travelers armed with booking and experience apps taking trips on their own.

Over the last decade, while the overall numbers of Chinese tourists rose, group tours dwindled amid a crackdown on cheap so-called zero-dollar tours in Phuket, the 40-mile long island on the Thai peninsula’s west coast. Often illegal operations dodging taxes, the tours typically were controlled by Chinese investors who owned buses, hotels, restaurants, spas and gift shops, siphoning off tourist spending from locals. They were known for pressuring guests to buy overpriced souvenirs at the shops they controlled.

“I don’t think that we will have more of the big tour groups,” said Nantida Atiset, a hotel owner in Phuket and the vice president of the Phuket Tourist Association. “I think they will come back, of course. It’s just a matter of how big they will come back.”

Pricey flights to London and Australia

In London, another popular destination for Chinese travelers, more than 300,000 people visited Chinatown last week for the first Lunar New Year parade since the coronavirus, but few Chinese tourists were present.

Feng Yang, the manager of Shanghai Family, a Chinese restaurant in central London, said that he didn’t expect any travelers from China during the Lunar New Year period, but was hopeful they would return in a few months. “They’re still affected by the coronavirus,” Mr. Yang said, adding that his business would most likely not suffer because about 85 percent of his customers are Chinese students from the surrounding universities, who aren’t going back to China for the holiday.

The slow growth can be blamed on a combination of factors. “There aren’t many flights, they will tend to be more expensive, and people will need a visa to come,” said Patricia Yates, the chief executive of VisitBritain, adding that the return of Chinese travelers to Britain would be a “slow build” this year with higher expectations in 2024. Round-trip flights to London from China are currently running at around $1,300 and Ms. Yates expects the number of seats on flights from China to Britain to grow to only 30 percent of 2019 capacity by June. “That is really necessary to get people on planes,” she said.

Before the pandemic, China was Australia’s biggest visitor market in terms of spending. The country received 1.4 million Chinese visitors in 2019 who spent $12.4 billion.

Chinese travelers have started to return to visit friends and family, but travel operators do not expect an influx of leisure travelers for several months, as flights are expensive and Australia is not on China’s approved list for group tour destinations. Australia also requires coronavirus testing for Chinese travelers. This month, round-trip flights between China and Australia range between $1,800 and $3,000. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were known for being willing to spend money, said James Shen, the owner of Odyssey Travel in Melbourne. “Chinese tourists are the ones who say, ‘I don’t want to take a boat, I want to take a helicopter,’” he said. “It might be a 10-minute journey, 400 Australian dollars — very expensive — but Chinese tourists will say, ‘I want to take this, not the boat, because maybe I’ll get seasick.’”

While many travel operators are eager for their return, some worry that the industry may not be able to keep up with a new influx of tourists.

“The industry disappeared for two years; it’ll be very hard for it to recover,” said Rick Liu, the owner of TanTan Holiday travel agency in Melbourne. Many drivers and tour guides found other work while the tourism industry was on pause, he added, and hiring them back may be difficult.

“I’m happy that we’ll have more tourists, but I’m also a bit worried about whether we’ll be able to accommodate them properly, provide them with high enough quality service,” he added. “We’re a bit out of practice.”

Yan Zhuang contributed reporting from Melbourne, Australia, and Derrick Bryson Taylor from London.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2023 .

Ceylan Yeginsu is a travel reporter. She was previously a correspondent for the International desk in Britain and Turkey, covering politics; social justice; the migrant crisis; the Kurdish conflict, and the rise of Islamic State extremism in Syria and the region. More about Ceylan Yeginsu

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It will be two more years until the big-spending Chinese travelers return in force

The contribution of Chinese travelers to global tourism used to be No. 1 in the world. There were 155 million international trips by Chinese travelers in 2019, spending about US$245 billion in total. But because of COVID-19, Chinese international travelers have almost completely disappeared, and retailers and hospitality players across the globe are anxious to know when they will be welcoming those big spenders again.

We used Oliver Wyman’s top-rated Pandemic Navigator to forecast when different countries will achieve herd immunity and open their borders again. We then combined that with our latest consumer sentiment research to forecast when and where Chinese travelers will return to international travel.

The reopening of various national borders is not enough to convince Chinese travelers to travel again. Requirements to quarantine when visiting certain destinations are a major discouragement for many.

But even where no quarantine is in force, there is hesitation, meaning it will take time to recover to pre-COVID levels. For instance, Macau opened its borders to Chinese travelers in September 2020 and had no quarantine requirement. Still by March 2021, visitor numbers were only 29 percent of March 2019 levels.

We forecast that outbound trips by Chinese travelers will recover to 2019 levels two years from now in the second quarter of 2023 at the earliest. The delay is caused by the requirement for herd immunity to be established in China and destinations before quarantine-free travel is allowed. China is not expected to achieve herd immunity until the second quarter of 2022, and even then, our research shows only about 15 percent of Chinese will be willing to jump on a flight right away. Most are adopting a wait-and-see approach on travel and will delay taking international trips for several weeks, if not several months, after the border opens, according to our survey.

For the travel and tourism industry, the good news is that those early travelers are the biggest spenders, eager to shop and enjoy premium services as soon as possible. That means spending is likely to recover sooner than traveler count.

But international spending on luxury is seriously threatened by the new shopping paradise, the island province of Hainan. The Chinese government has a grand plan for Hainan, which has become a welcome alternative for Chinese who travel internationally. It is now one of the top three preferred destinations, rivaling Hong Kong in popularity.

Seventy-one percent of our survey indicated they would continue to travel to Hainan to shop even once the rest of the world opens. The main motivation: It was cheaper to travel there. For the same reason, Hong Kong also has a window of opportunity to continue to hang onto being the go-to place for Chinese travelers after the pandemic.

This article was also authored by Kenneth Chow.

Retail and Consumer Goods
Travel and Leisure
Jacques Penhirin and
Imke Wouters

China Outbound Leisure Travel Unlikely to Make Full Recovery Before Mid-2023

How The Chinese Traveler Is Evolving

Chinese travelers have played an increasingly important role in global tourism.

Chinese Travelers Favor Domestic Destinations

China’s travel industry starts to show signs of recovery, with the COVID-19 outbreak being effectively controlled domestically.

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Chinese travelers are back, and with them, a chance to ease tensions

Deep Read ( 4 Min. )
By Ann Scott Tyson Staff writer

April 06, 2023, 2:51 p.m. ET | Seattle, Washington

Beijing lifting its draconian “zero-COVID” regime in December has opened the door for mainland Chinese to venture abroad again for leisure. Many are eager for a change of scene – as of March, outbound air ticket bookings were up 419% compared with the same period in 2022.

However, several factors are constraining the travel surge, from limited international flights to slow visa processing. Traveler concerns over safety and hostility overseas also loom large.

Why We Wrote This

While human connection alone can’t prevent conflict, an enduring peace is unlikely without it. As Chinese citizens begin to venture abroad again, can what some dub “revenge travel” play a mitigating role and foster compassion?

Geopolitical tensions have mounted between China and advanced economies in the West and Asia during China’s three years of isolation, and perception gaps have grown. Strained relations with the United States in particular exacerbate worries that individual Chinese travelers have about threats from anti-Asian racism, crime, and being viewed as spies.

Yet the return of Chinese visitors has the potential to rekindle more friendly ties and mutual compassion on a person-to-person level, experts say. A retired IT professional from Chengdu, who asked to withhold his name out of concern over possible repercussions in China, reports being surprised by a warm welcome at the U.S. border.

“I realized that the U.S. border is fine,” he says, pausing to chat while visiting Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market. “The authorities are good, and the ordinary people are also totally normal – it’s really great, just like before.”

When a retired IT professional from Chengdu traveled to the United States last week for the first time after years of pandemic-related isolation in China, he worried how U.S. border authorities might scrutinize a Chinese traveler.

To his relief, the American officers greeted him not with suspicion, but with a welcome.

“The border officials were very relaxed ... and polite. They told me to enjoy my stay,” he says, pausing to chat while visiting the original Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market. “I realized that the U.S. border is fine, the authorities are good, and the ordinary people are also totally normal – it’s really great, just like before.”

He asked to withhold his name out of concern over possible repercussions in China.

Beijing lifting its draconian “zero-COVID” regime in December has opened the door for mainland Chinese to venture abroad again for leisure. The beginnings of a surge of Chinese traveling overseas is vital not only for business – prior to the pandemic, Chinese travelers made 155 million international trips and spent about $245 billion in 2019 – but for human connection, experts say.

Geopolitical tensions have mounted between China and advanced economies in the West and Asia during China’s three years of isolation, and perception gaps have grown. The return of Chinese visitors to the United States, Europe, and other countries in Asia has the potential to rekindle more friendly ties and mutual compassion on a person-to-person level, experts say.

“Precisely because of all the challenges we are facing now, travel and people-to-people interactions become even more crucial,” says Xiang Li, professor of tourism and director of the U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism and Hospitality Research at Temple University. “Once people travel to a destination perceived as a hostile country, talk with people, and see the country through their own eyes, perceptions may very well change.”

A world unlocked

China’s years of mass COVID-19 testing, restricted mobility, and constant threat of lockdowns and quarantines generated a collective trauma that has left many Chinese eager for a change of scene, experts say.

“It was a global PTSD moment, in China in particular because the past three years did affect many aspects of life and work,” says Dr. Li.

A Chinese scholar from Beijing describes her feeling of entrapment under “zero-COVID” mandates as similar to “riding on a high speed train that we couldn’t get off, and we didn’t know when it would stop.” She also withheld her name to avoid being identified in China.

Keen to take a break from China, she was able to obtain a visiting scholar position at an American university and left the Chinese capital for Seattle last fall.

Across China, the pandemic spurred the realization among many Chinese – especially the urban, educated, middle class – that international travel was no longer a rare luxury, but instead an indispensable part of their lifestyle.

Emily, a Chinese university student in Beijing who asked to withhold her last name for her protection, describes feeling immobilized last December while the world was moving on. “The outside world was changing very rapidly,” she says. “I was locked in my university, so my life was frozen.”

She left China in January to study in California. It was her first trip to the U.S. “I was just looking for something I wanted, but I didn’t know what that something is,” Emily says, “so I decided to see another country.”

This pent-up demand for travel translated into a flurry of online trip searches immediately after the “zero-COVID” policy ended. Outbound travel bookings surged 640% during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday season starting in January 2023, according to data from China’s Trip.com reservation platform. As of March, outbound air ticket bookings were up 419% compared with the same period in 2022, and some of the top destinations were Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, the United States, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

“With borders now open and many restrictions gone, Trip.com Group has seen tremendous pick up for both domestic and outbound travel,” says company spokesperson Chen Si. “Customers have been traveling within China for the past three years, so outbound demand is strong.”

Overcoming fear through connection

Nevertheless, several factors are also constraining the growth in Chinese travelers heading abroad – from economic uncertainty in China, to costly and limited international flights, as well as other logistical shortfalls such as slow visa processing.

Traveler concerns over safety and hostility overseas also loom large, experts say. Strained relations with the West, and the U.S. in particular, exacerbate worries that individual Chinese travelers have about threats from anti-Asian racism, crime, and being viewed as spies, says Dr. Li.

Coming to the U.S. for the first time, “my relatively big worry was safety,” says the Chinese scholar from Beijing. “I knew there were guns, and China’s media reported on it a lot.”

Yet after living in the Seattle area for a few months, she says her concerns have largely disappeared. “It’s very tolerant here and very friendly,” she says. “There’s a lot of trust.”

Seattle welcomed nearly 20,000 visitors from China last year and expects to receive 56,000 this year, compared to about 166,000 in 2019, according to the nonprofit marketing organization Visit Seattle.

As for Emily, she says she’s already met several new friends in California, and is impressed by the breadth of their interests. “Maybe they are a math Ph.D., but they have many passions in their life and can achieve it easily here,” she says.

Indeed, China travel experts believe that although it may take time, the world will gradually see the return of large numbers of mainland Chinese visitors – a force that could boost understanding and compassion.

For the IT professional from Chengdu, the revival of exchanges has the potential to help dispel misperceptions that ballooned during the pandemic.

“We have an information asymmetry, because a lot of Americans who haven’t gone to China are talking about China, and a lot of Chinese who haven’t been to the United States are talking about the United States,” he says.

China’s state-run media and the U.S. media carry largely negative reports about the U.S. and China, respectively, he notes.

“I don’t want China and the United States to have too many conflicts,” he says, “because the people are all very good.”

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Chinese Outbound and Inbound Travel Rules Roundup

To help keep the travel industry up to date and informed, we’re tracking all the latest developments and regulations regarding travel into and out of mainland china..

First published: 22 March, 2021 Last updated: 10 August, 2023

To help keep the travel industry up to date and informed, we’re tracking all the latest developments and regulations regarding travel into and out of mainland China. This post will be regularly updated with any new or changing policies.

Have we missed something? Please feel free to send questions or comments to [email protected]

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– From 8 January 2023, China no longer requires any quarantine for international arrivals. Passengers must have a negative COVID test result from within 48 hours of departure, and complete a China Customs health self-declaration online, via website, WeChat mini-program, or app. Inbound travelers to China will no longer need to apply for a green health code from the Chinese embassy in the country of departure.

– From 29 April 2023, all travelers to China from any point of departure will be able to take an antigen test, rather than a PCR test. Tests should be taken within 48 hours of departure, but airlines will no longer be required to check test results before allowing passengers to check in or board.

– From 15 March 2023: Foreigners can apply for any kind of visa – including tourism visas – to China. Visas to enter China which were issued before 28 March 2020 and have not yet expired, will become valid once again.

– From 31 March 2023: Foreigners can now travel to China as part of group tours, and buy travel packages (minimum flight + hotel) to travel to/in China.

– China’s National Immigration Administration resumed normal passport application processing on 8 January 2023, including passports needed for the purpose of tourism and VFR travel. Previously, new passports and passport renewals were for “essential” reasons (including business travel and study) only.

– On 20 January, it was announced that sale of outbound group and package travel (from a minimum of a flight + hotel package) could resume, for travel on or after 6 February 2023. To begin with, this policy is only for travel to 20 countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, UAE, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba, and Argentina. Previously, the sale of outbound group and package travel was banned by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, starting from 27 January, 2020.

– The Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a second list of countries for group and package travel on 10 March, with travel permitted from 15 March. The countries are: Nepal, Brunei, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran, Jordan, Tanzania, Namibia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Serbia, Croatia, France, Greece, Spain, Iceland, Albania, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Slovenia, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Panama, Dominica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas.

– On 10 August 2023, an additional 78 countries were added to the list where travel agents are allowed to sell group tours and package travel: Oman, Pakistan, Bahrain, South Korea, Qatar, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Japan, Turkey, Israel, India, Algeria, Ethiopia, Benin, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Ghana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe, Tunisia, Ireland, Estonia, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Romania, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Sweden, Cyprus, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Costa Rica, United States, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, French Polynesia, French New Caledonia. At 138 countries in total, compared to 130 at the start of 2019, Chinese outbound group travel can be seen as fully restored, despite the absence of several countries (notably Canada) from this last list.

– Mainland China’s border with Hong Kong reopened on 8 January 2023, with high-speed train services resuming on 15 January. As of 6 February, the mainland-Hong Kong-Macau border has been reopened completely, back to how it was before the pandemic.

– With China reopening for outbound travel, a number of countries around the world decided to impose restrictions on travelers from China in January 2023. Countries requiring negative COVID tests from within 48 hours of departure for visitors from China included: Australia, EU countries, India, Israel, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, UK, and USA. Japan and South Korea limited the airports into which flights from mainland China could land. Morocco banned travelers from China altogether.

These additional requirements for travelers from China were all phased out by the spring of 2023:

– India dropped its pre-departure testing requirement for travelers from China on 13 February 2023.

– From mid-February 2023, South Korea and China are now both issuing visas to each other’s citizens. Earlier in the year, South Korea had suspended issuing short-term visas to Chinese citizens, and in response, China stopped issuing short-term visas to Korean citizens. Searches for Korean visas on OTA Fliggy increased 1,179% within a few days of the change. COVID testing on arrival to South Korea ended 1 March, with pre-departure COVID testing scrapped from 11 March.

– On 17 February 2023, the EU announced it would phase out COVID testing for passengers from China, starting by ending pre-departure testing from the end of February, and ending random screenings in March.

– Israel ended pre-departure testing requirements for travelers from China on 28 February.

– Japan canceled pre-departure testing requirements for travelers from China from 1 March.

– The US dropped its COVID testing requirements for travelers from China from 10 March.

– Australia ended its testing requirements for travelers from China from 11 March.

– Canada ended testing requirements for travelers from China from 17 March.

– The UK ended testing requirements for travelers from China on 5 April.

On 11 November 2022, China’s circuit breaker policy, which had suspended flights as a consequence for having positive cases on board a previous flight, was lifted entirely.

By the end of July 2023, international flight volume had recovered to 46.9% of 2019’s levels. Recovery is uneven depending on destination. For example, flight capacity between China and the UK is now fully recovered, but on the other end of the spectrum, there are still only 24 flights a week between China and the US as of 10 August 2023 — just 6.5% of the pre-pandemic volume. ( See a snapshot of international flight connectivity for 17-23 July here. )

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China’s Tourists Can Travel Again. Here’s Why the World Is Still Waiting for the Rebound

N estled among the crumbling stupas of Laos’s ancient capital Luang Prabang, 525 Cocktails and Tapas was the city’s premier fine dining establishment, serving elevated local cuisine and perhaps Southeast Asia’s yummiest smoked negroni.

Foreign visitors comprised 95% of the restaurant’s footfall, and with tourist numbers to Laos breaking records year-on-year, plus a new high-speed train route due to link the landlocked nation with China’s city of Kunming to the north and Singapore to the south, business was looking up.

Then the pandemic struck. With borders sealed shut, 525’s British proprietor Andrew Sykes had no choice but to suspend operations, instead pivoting to local clientele by opening new premises in Laos’s modern capital, Vientiane. “The business is going very well,” says Sykes. “I will reopen in Luang Prabang but just not quite yet.”

Laos flung open its borders to visitors in May but the uptick in foreign arrivals has been torpid. Many in the hospitality industry hoped that would change following the opening of China’s borders on Jan. 8, given free-spending Chinese tourists comprised almost a quarter of the nation’s 4.7 million international visitors in 2019. Still, the results have been underwhelming.

“We’re starting to see Chinese customers come in, but it’s sub-10% of our business,” says Sykes. “It’s still predominantly Laos with some expats as well.”

Despite an indeterminate human toll , the sudden end of China’s zero-COVID policy is an undoubted boon for the global economy, liberating consumers and retailers of three years of supply chain disruptions wrought by arbitrarily shuttered ports and factories. The end of China’s pandemic travel restrictions is also a huge relief to the global hospitality industry. In 2019, Chinese travelers made 155 million trips overseas, spending $277 billion—a fifth of the global total outlay by international tourists.

But the experience of Laos, right on China’s southwestern frontier, shows that returning to the level of pre-pandemic travel will be a long, slow process.

Rebounding in Phases

The announcement on Dec. 26 that Chinese travelers could once again travel abroad naturally sparked optimism in a regional hospitality industry that has suffered greatly during the pandemic . Ctrip, China’s largest travel agency, reported that overseas bookings from Jan. 1 to Jan. 10 had increased by 313% year-on-year, with Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia among the most popular destinations.

Still, overall traveler numbers remain a fraction of pre-pandemic numbers. Firstly, the abrupt and chaotic end of zero-COVID meant that airlines and travel agencies had little time to scale up capacity before a rush of interest, meaning flights were limited as costs soared.

More from TIME

“Lots of airports, airlines, travel partners let some of their staff go,” says Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip parent Trip.com Group. “So now they need to recruit the staff back and re-train them. But we’re hoping during the second half of the year, everything will be back to normal.”

When China announced that it would reopen its borders from Jan. 8, the focus internally was on preparing Hong Kong and Macau—two destinations within the People’s Republic but that due to their “semi-autonomous” status still count as “outbound” travel on tourist figures.

The second phase, which began on Feb. 6, included only 20 countries to where Chinese travelers could book tours and “package” (flight plus hotel) vacations: most Southeast Asian nations—including Laos—plus the UAE, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba, and Argentina. In Europe, only Switzerland and Hungary made the cut, while North America was completely shunned.

In any case, the abruptness of the January reopening meant that few Chinese wanted to travel abroad for Lunar New Year—instead choosing to spend it with families that they had been cut off from for the holiday over the past three years. The period immediately following Lunar New Year has never traditionally been a popular travel time in China, and so there’s unlikely to be any huge rebound until the summer at the earliest.

“October and towards the back end of this year is when you’ll start to see the real upswing,” says Gary Bowerman, director of Check-in Asia, a tourism intelligence and strategic marketing firm. “And by that time, you would think that the Chinese travel industry will have found its feet and be able to manage demand.”

Changes in Capacity and Demand

As the world’s largest travel industry, it will take some time for China to get back up to full capacity. A positive factor is that China’s domestic tourism is huge and permitted tour operators to pivot inward rather than suspend operations completely, as was the case in smaller countries.

Still, it’s unlikely that tourism from China will return in exactly the same shape as before. Currently, there just aren’t many flights. Travel data firm OAG suggests that capacity to and from China will swell from about 1.5 million seats in December 2022 to more than 4 million in April 2023. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAC) expects total air traffic for 2023 to reach 75% of pre-pandemic levels.

The CAC will soon post its new spring and summer flight schedules, which will show where demand is heading over the next few months. Every big airline is currently locked in negotiations, though China, as ever, will protect its own domestic carriers by handing them the pick of routes and timings.

In addition, political wrangling persists. China is the only country globally to reopen its borders in the midst of a huge COVID surge (in fact, its biggest on record). Some nations eager for tourism cash chose to backburner the public health implications. In Thailand, where 28% of all visitors in 2019 were from China, arrivals were welcomed by garlands and health kits handed out personally by a deputy prime minister.

However, many governments slapped new testing requirements or bans on Chinese arrivals, prompting Beijing to retaliate by suspending the issuance of short-term visas to their nationals, including from South Korea and Japan. Tourism flows will continue to be buffeted by such politically-charged pandemic headwinds.

The pandemic has also left its imprint on travel habits. Ctrip’s Sun says that today’s Chinese tourists are looking to book trips at short notice—mitigating possible pandemic disruption—but also travel in smaller groups, using more sustainable means, and in ways that they feel safe. “More and more customers really want to be very well protected when they’re traveling,” says Sun.

This is another reason why the U.S. might be last to feel the benefits of any rebound. As relations between Beijing and Washington spiral over myriad issues , anti-Asian hate crime and gun violence has been amplified on Chinese state media. Even before the pandemic, Trump-era trade tariffs and anti-China bombast contributed to just 2.9 million Chinese travelers visiting the U.S. in 2018, down from 3.2 million in 2017, according to U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office data. “Chinese tourists are incredibly risk averse,” says Bowerman. “They don’t want to be near anything that puts their own personal security in danger.”

Of course, given many Chinese study, work or have family in the U.S., a significant number will continue to shuttle across the Pacific. However, safety concerns and a high price point for American travel amid a slowing Chinese economy, plus onerous restrictions for Chinese nationals to get U.S. visas, means many will stay away. And they will be missed; in 2018, Chinese tourists in the U.S. each spent an average of $6,700 per trip—over 50% more than the typical traveler, according to industry body the U.S. Travel Association.

“The Chinese economy has been struggling so I think pricier destinations might find it a little bit more difficult,” says Bowerman. “Value will be a big factor over the next six to 12 months, for sure.”

More Must-Reads from TIME

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Write to Charlie Campbell / Singapore at [email protected]

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How china’s approved destination status policy spurs and hinders chinese travel abroad.

Chinese tourists can be a real contributor to the global economy and world peace. China needs the world, and the world needs China. —Zhang Guangrui, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 1

By the end of this decade, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that the People’s Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) will be sending 100 million tourists abroad each year. 2 By then, China is expected to be the world’s largest tourist-generating country.

How is that possible? Before 1978, China was pretty much closed to the outside world. Few Chinese citizens were allowed to travel to other countries. Those who did were either businessmen, government officials, or students. Taking a pleasure trip abroad was unthinkable unless it was disguised as a legitimate trip. All that began to change in the 1990s when China adopted a unique tourism policy. China’s Approved Destination Status (ADS) Policy allows overseas pleasure travel by its citizens in tightly controlled groups and only to countries (and territories) approved by the government. Tourist destinations around the world hailed this move. Imagine the world’s most populous country of more than 1.3 billion people spreading its growing wealth around the globe! Lost in the euphoria was the policy’s big limitation: Chinese citizens were not able to go where and how they wanted. In this article, we examine China’s ADS policy.

China’s policy on outbound tourism is an important topic to study because international tourism has become an economic and social force of global significance. Tourism, if developed in a sustainable way, can be a positive agent of economic and social change and a potential weapon in the fight to alleviate global poverty. China is the world’s most populous country and its second-largest economy; its policies now have the potential to generate big, rippling economic and social impacts throughout the world. Tourism can also promote better international understanding and global peace.

Our article can be used in economics, geography, political science, anthropology, and sociology courses to introduce students to the importance of international tourism, as well as ongoing issues involving China’s economic development. In college and high school AP economics classes, students would learn about issues surrounding the liberalization of international trade in services. Tourism is a particularly good example, as it is the largest item in international service trade. In the high school AP human geography class, students might want to follow up on our analysis by exploring the tourist attractions of various countries around the world and why some countries might be more attractive to Chinese tourists than other countries. For example, students could study the rules and regulations governing the selection of World Heritage Sites (what they are and how they get on the list, etc.). Students in anthropology and sociology classes might be encouraged to assess the sociocultural impacts of mass tourism on tourist receiving and sending countries. Students in political science classes may want to follow up on how tourism is used as political leverage in international relations. The sudden drop in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Okinawa, Japan, in fall 2012 as a result of the Japan-China dispute over the Senkaku Islands would be a natural follow-up. 3 China’s ADS policy and the big surge in Chinese tourism are clearly interdisciplinary topics, and they may be best suited for interdisciplinary courses, such as Asian studies or global studies, particularly because these courses are less bound than disciplinary courses by specific, fact-based, state instructional standards.

For most people, tourism means travel for personal pleasure. That is not how the UNWTO defines it. Tourism is travel away from one’s usual place of residence for less than a year for reasons other than emigration or employment. In 2010, 51 percent of globe-trotting tourists were traveling for fun, and another 15 percent were traveling on business and professional trips. Visiting friends and relatives, travel for one’s health, religious pilgrimages, and “other” made up the rest.

International tourist arrivals have grown to impressive levels and now have a tremendous impact on the global economy. Statistics published by the World Tourism Organization show that international tourist arrivals worldwide reached 983 million in 2011, compared to 25 million in 1950, and have more than doubled over the past twenty years. International tourists spent an equivalent of over US $1 trillion dollars in 2011, excluding passenger transportation costs, compared to just US $2 billion in 1950.

Immediately after World War II, tourism development was not a high priority among Asian countries. What they wanted was to maximize economic growth by emphasizing the production and export of manufactured goods. Tourism’s role was to bring in foreign exchange (currency) to help pay the costs of industrialization. This meant bringing foreign tourists in but not allowing their own citizens out (travel bans). Countries also imposed limits on how much foreign currency a traveler could obtain (currency restrictions), which effectively limited how much money a traveler could spend on foreign travel.

Japan, which was rebuilding its economy in the two decades after the end of World War II, did not allow its citizens to travel abroad on pleasure trips until 1964, after the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympic Games. After the travel ban was lifted, Japan continued to impose currency restrictions on Japanese travelers, which remained in place until the late 1970s. South Korea did not fully lift its ban on outbound pleasure travel until 1989, after the conclusion of the 1988 Olympic Games in Korea. When both countries finally lifted their travel restrictions, Japanese and South Koreans took to foreign travel with great enthusiasm. Since the 1970s, tourism has grown much faster in the Asia-Pacific region than in other regions of the world. The lifting of travel bans, especially in Japan, was one of the reasons why tourism grew so rapidly in the region. 4

Compared to its Asian neighbors, China is a latecomer to international tourism. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), China was an inward-looking country in economic and cultural turmoil. With the 1976 death of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, and the subsequent end of the Cultural Revolution, China adopted the Four Modernizations Policies, one of which emphasized the opening of foreign trade. As in other areas of economic policy reform, China’s entry into international tourism was gradual. Initially, China permitted inbound tourism only, followed by inbound and domestic tourism and finally outbound tourism. 5

China experimented with outbound tourism in the early 1980s when citizens from Guangdong Province were allowed to travel to nearby Hong Kong and Macau in organized tours to visit relatives. Residents from other provinces were later permitted to join as long as they had relatives or friends in Hong Kong and Macau. Beginning in 1990, Chinese citizens were also allowed to travel to Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand for family visits. The catch was that travel expenses to all five destinations had to be paid by the hosts to prevent the outflow of scarce foreign currency. Eventually, travelers were allowed to pay their own expenses, paving the way for more people to travel abroad.

In 1995, China’s government formalized the ADS system under which Chinese citizens could travel in organized group tours to countries the government had approved. ADS is achieved by bilateral negotiation. 6 Unlike Japan and South Korea, which placed no restrictions on where their citizens could visit after their travel bans were lifted, China’s unique outbound tourism policy is selective. It is both liberalizing and restricting. Only selected, government-approved travel agencies in China can sell overseas travel packages to ADS countries. In turn, approved countries must issue a special ADS visa. Chinese tourists can apply for ADS visas as a group as part of their tour packages. In sum, China’s ADS policy enables an increasingly affluent Chinese population to travel abroad at relatively low cost and with few hassles, though not necessarily to the countries of their first choice.

ADs Policy: Purpose

Why did the Chinese government decide to adopt such an unusual policy that eases and yet still restricts travel to its own citizens? 7 The easing component is not so difficult to understand. China has been undergoing dramatic changes. Since 1978, the economy has transitioned from a centrally planned economic system to one that is more market-oriented. In December 2001, China became a member of the World Trade Organization after opening and liberalizing its economy during the 1990s. Since then, the economy has been growing at a breakneck pace of nearly 10 percent each year. As a result, GDP per capita today is now more than six times what it was twenty years ago. 8 The average annual income per capita in China is still very low (US $5,445 in 2011), but this masks a huge discrepancy in income between those who live in the cities and those who live in the countryside. China’s spectacular economic growth has created a vast urban middle class with a strong appetite for leisure travel. 9

The government responded to this growing demand by implementing shorter workweeks and more holidays. The five-day workweek became the norm in 1995. In 1999, the government introduced three golden weeks, with each week comprised of seven days of national holidays. 10 The specific goal was to encourage domestic travel. Over time, China’s government also made passports easier to get, raised the limit (several times) on the amount of foreign currency travelers were allowed to purchase, and permitted more travel agencies to get into the outbound travel business. The boom in foreign travel was underway.

Still, the Chinese government did not want to loosen its grip over travel too quickly. The government still wanted to minimize the outflow of foreign currency. 11 However, huge increases in China’s foreign currency reserves from 2003 and improvements in China’s international trading position have essentially eliminated this objective as a goal of Chinese travel policy. ADS was also seen as a way for both governments to control Chinese citizens’ movements overseas. Among receiving countries, there has always been a concern that Chinese tourists might overstay the number of days allowed on their visas and create an immigration problem. China, too, has been wary of illegal Chinese immigration to ADS countries. 12 The 1999 ADS agreement between China and Australia illustrates how ADS agreements can allay those concerns.

The Australia-China ADS agreement imposed stringent controls on the issuance of passports and exit visas by China and tight controls on entry visas by Australia. 13 On the Chinese side, only “authorized travel agencies” approved by the Chinese National Tourism Administration could sell overseas tour packages to Australia. Chinese guides must lead tours. A tour leader who has had too many overstayers can be suspended or banned from escorting future tours to Australia.

On the Australian side, the government of Australia agreed to accept group visa applications only from China’s authorized travel agencies. ADS visas were valid only for the duration of the group tour, with no possibility of extension or status change once the group arrived in Australia.

In addition to government rules, Chinese travel agencies also developed their own controls to discourage overstays. Though not required by either government, Chinese travel agencies unilaterally required sizable cash bonds from Australia-bound tourists to be refunded upon return to China. 14 Tour guides also kept the passports and tickets of tour members. The combination of formal and informal controls resulted in relatively few visa violations. In 2009–2010, the non return rate among Chinese tourists visiting Australia on ADS visas was 0.12 percent, compared to 1.35 percent for all foreign visitors. 15 Most importantly, Chinese tourists now constitute Australia’s most valuable source of spending by international visitors. For both countries, ADS has been a success story.

Which Countries Got ADs

Table 1 provides a list of countries/destinations that have negotiated and implemented ADS agreements with China. Between 1983 and 1993, the list included only seven countries/destinations, all of them in Asia. After 1994, the list of ADS countries expanded rapidly. Currently, more than 110 countries have implemented ADS agreements with China.

ADS designations were not handed out randomly. For China, negotiating ADS agreements with its neighbors was important because of its potentially positive impact on its relations with them. Shorter distances to nearby countries also meant less expensive vacations for Chinese travelers.

There are also indications of clustering of awards by region. For example, a group of European countries, including the members of the EU, obtained ADS around 2004. Many South American and Caribbean countries were granted ADS between 2005 and 2009. Grouping of countries reduced negotiation costs. It also allowed Chinese travelers to visit several countries in a particular region on a single trip, and thereby both saving money and having a variety of experiences.

Figure 1 for International Departures from China and Number of ADS Countries

Still, it is not obvious why and when some countries successfully negotiated agreements and others did not. We offer one possible explanation. Since the Chinese government regards granting ADS to a country as a concession favoring the grantee country, China may have been using ADS as soft power to gain political concessions from potential grantee countries when it served its national interest. For example, it was reported that China granted ADS to the South Pacific island nation of Fiji in return for not recognizing Taiwan diplomatically. 16 Indeed, among the twenty-three countries that currently recognize Taiwan, not one has been granted ADS by China. Despite its penalization of countries recognizing Taiwan, China granted ADS to Taiwan in 2008. 17

More evidence exists that China employs ADS both as a carrot and a stick to gain political advantage. The evidence consists of the voting records of United Nations members on eighteen votes during the fifty-eighth session of the 2003 United Nations General Assembly. 18 Most of the votes were on global security issues. Analysis of these voting records indicates that countries that voted more frequently in agreement with China were more likely to have received ADS.

Impact of ADs on Chinese outbound Travel

Figure 1 displays the total number of ADS countries by year of award and annual Chinese departures abroad between 1994 and 2011. During the first ten years of the ADS program, the number of Chinese traveling abroad grew at an average rate of 22 percent per year. The comparable rate of increase for Japan during the first ten years after the lifting of its travel ban was 40 percent per year. Between 1994 and 2011, Chinese outbound travel grew at a slower rate of 20 percent per year on average, compared to Japan’s 29 percent over a comparable period. It would be tempting—but probably unwise—to conclude that China’s growth was slower than Japan’s because it had adopted a selective and drawn-out approach to travel liberalization. For one thing, China began its liberalization process with a larger number of outbound tourists than Japan: 4.5 million for China in 1995 versus 128,000 for Japan in 1964. In any case, what matters more to tourist destinations are the actual numbers of tourists and how much the typical tourist spends. The gap between the numbers for Japan and China is striking. In 1980—sixteen years after Japan lifted its ban on overseas pleasure travel—3.9 million Japanese traveled abroad. By comparison, the China Tourism Academy reports that 70 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2011, sixteen years after ADS was formally adopted. 19

How did ADS affect individual countries that received ADS? For the answer, we can compare Chinese tourist arrivals in individual ADS countries before and after receiving ADS. A recent study of outbound Chinese travel used Chinese tourist arrival data from seventeen ADS recipient countries that received ADS between 1998 and 2003. It compared each country’s average annual growth rates three years before and three years after receiving ADS designation. 20 The study found the following results. First, there were big differences in the growth rates of Chinese tourist arrivals in these ADS recipient countries both before and after they received ADS. In other words, some destinations were simply more attractive to Chinese tourists than others. For some countries, being awarded ADS is not a guarantee of a flood of incoming Chinese tourists. Second, in most of these countries (fourteen), growth rates of Chinese visitor arrivals post-ADS exceeded the growth rates pre-ADS. 21 Third, only five of these countries had pre-ADS growth rates of Chinese tourist arrivals that exceeded the growth rates of overall Chinese outbound travel over the same years, compared to eleven post-ADS. Overall, ADS appears to have spurred Chinese travel to ADS countries.

Two separate studies also employed statistical techniques that helped identify the potential influences of other factors besides ADS that might have affected Chinese travel to these ADS recipient countries. 22 Both studies confirmed the positive impact of ADS on Chinese visitor arrivals. Both also found that the designation of a new ADS country diverted Chinese tourists from non-ADS and previously designated ADS countries to the new ADS country. That should not be a big surprise. Which countries got ADS reflected the preferences of the Chinese government and not necessarily the preferences of the Chinese consumers. As more countries were approved, Chinese consumers could change their minds and visit the countries they preferred.

ADS is a preferential travel liberalization system. While it has spurred Chinese travel abroad, it has also restricted opportunities for Chinese consumers to travel to destinations they might otherwise have preferred. As more countries conclude ADS agreements with China, the value to the Chinese government of having a preferential policy diminishes. Even the Chinese recognize this. 23 In the meantime, with more than 110 countries and territories that have already implemented ADS, including the most popular destinations, Chinese citizens currently have a tremendous number of destination choices. Since 2003, mainland Chinese have been allowed to travel to Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis. Perhaps a change from group to individual travel will be the next phase of outbound travel policy reform in China.

In 2009, the number of Chinese who traveled abroad, as a percentage of the nation’s population, was just 3.5 percent. The World Tourism Organization estimates that the global average was 11.5 percent in 2000. With the Chinese only beginning to travel internationally, we have a clear conclusion: A lot more Chinese are coming!

Is the era of free movement for Chinese citizens coming to an end?

Will the world ever see Chinese tourists again?

For people in China, being able to travel abroad is a freedom that wasn’t granted to them until the 1990s, when late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms prompted the country to open up to the outside world. But with the arrival of the pandemic, this freedom to travel has vanished at an alarming speed.

China was able to bring covid-19 under control early in 2020, allowing for a relatively normal life within the country. But the spread of the more contagious omicron this year brought back draconian domestic measures, including a lengthy lockdown in Shanghai . Despite growing domestic and global criticism of China’s zero-covid policy, Chinese president Xi Jinping this month emphasized the need for officials to stick with and defend Beijing’s approach.

Citing that speech, China’s immigration authorities last week said that they will strictly limit “non-essential” outbound travel and will take a rigorous approach to issuing travel documents. Chinese citizens will need to have “essential” reasons such as study, business operations, or medical needs to get the necessary documents.

Though China has had a stringent outbound travel policy and strict entry quarantines throughout the pandemic, last week’s announcement comes as the country has seen an uptick in interest in emigration amid the chaos of this year’s lockdowns. The emphasis has sparked concerns about whether overseas travels will now become even more difficult. Many Chinese internet users are already complaining about having been denied a passport even with a valid reason to travel, creating a black market where agents forge additional documents to bolster passport applications, according to Chinese website Sixth Tone. Only 335,000 passports were issued in the first half of 2021, or around 2% of the number issued in the same period in 2019.

“As with all such announcements, it remains to be seen how they will be enforced…Nevertheless, it seems to be in keeping with many new regulations and increased enforcement of restrictions on PRC [People’s Republic of China] citizens’ global interactions,” said James Millward, a professor of Chinese history at Georgetown.

A short history of China’s travel boom

Travel was a novel concept for most Chinese until the 1980s, before which even traveling within the country often needed approval from one’s work unit , which had say over most aspects of people’s lives in the pre-reform era. It was mostly government officials or state firm executives who could travel abroad. But the era of private travel began after Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia became the first three destinations Chinese citizens were allowed to visit in the 1990s under bilateral tourism agreements, and passports became easier to get, at least for the Han majority.

By 2012, Chinese travelers were spending $100 billion on international travel , making them the world’s top tourism spenders. In 2019, Chinese travellers made 155 million trips abroad, with Japan and Thailand the top destinations, and splashed around $255 billion , or 20% all international tourism spending, according to the World Tourism Organization. But the pandemic has brought the country’s outbound travels to a standstill, with only around 26 million overseas trips made by Chinese citizens in 2021, according to industry association China Tourism Academy.

Nor has the freedom to travel been uniform across China. Ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet have long faced difficulties in getting passports, according to Human Rights Watch, which finds that most ordinary Tibetans largely have not had passports since 2012.

Growing isolation

The restriction on overseas travels comes as Beijing is seemingly increasingly turning inward. In addition to its firmly closed borders, China gave up hosting rights for the 2023 Asian Cup finals, citing its covid situation; some Chinese universities have withdrawn from international rankings ; and the country appears to be seeing a growing rejection of English-language teaching.

Still, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students continue to study in the US and the UK .

“Given what seems to be a push by the party-state in China to cut off Chinese scholars, students, travelers, businessmen and others from international contact, it is important for the US and other democratic nations not to do the same, but rather to increase outreach and keep the doors open for exchange of ideas and people-to-people contacts,” said Millward. “This will benefit people in the US, in China, everywhere.”

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China snubs Canada on its list of approved travel spots, setting back tourism's post-COVID recovery

China announced on aug. 10 outbound tours would resume to 78 countries, including u.s..

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In an apparent snub, the Chinese government has left Canada off a list of countries approved as international travel destinations for tour groups — a decision that threatens to leave Canada's travel industry at a competitive disadvantage as it continues its post-pandemic recovery.

In a media statement , the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Aug. 10 that an additional 78 countries had been added to a list of destinations approved for group tours and package travel. Travel agents from mainland China work from this list when they promote and book foreign travel for Chinese nationals.

In response to an inquiry from CBC News about China's rationale for excluding Canada, the public affairs office at China's embassy in Ottawa wrote that "lately, the Canadian side has repeatedly hyped up the so-called 'Chinese interference' and rampant and discriminatory anti-Asian acts and words are rising significantly in Canada."

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the safety and legitimate rights of overseas Chinese citizens and wishes they can travel in a safe and friendly environment," the embassy added.

In a joint statement sent to CBC News, spokespeople for Canada's foreign affairs and tourism ministers said Canadian tourism since the end of the pandemic has been strong and the government is aware of Canada's continued omission from China's list of approved destinations, as well as the Chinese embassy's recent public statements.

China retaliates against interference claims by snubbing Canada for group travel

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, outbound tourism from China was a valuable international commodity. Statistics from the World Tourism Organization suggest Chinese travellers spent $255 billion in 2019, accounting for 20 per cent of all international tourism spending.

Before international travel largely shut down due to the pandemic, roughly 60 per cent of mainland Chinese tourists' spending abroad went to group tours.

Hopes high for B.C. tourism as China lifts border rules, but full recovery could take months
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Chinese citizens have yet to resume their pre-COVID travel patterns. It remains to be seen if Thursday's announcement will be perceived as a green light for more Chinese nationals to pack their suitcases again.

Destination Canada, the Crown corporation set up to promote tourism, told CBC News that in 2019, China was Canada's largest source of tourist arrivals from the Asia-Pacific region and Canada's second-largest long-haul market after the U.K. China also used to be Canada's largest market in terms of how much its tourists spend.

"While visitation and [spending] from China have dropped significantly since 2020, China remains an important market for Canada. We look forward to welcoming Chinese visitors back when restrictions allow," said spokesperson Jennifer Peters in a statement.

Canada approved as a destination in 2010

The list from which Canada is now noticeably absent is one it had to fight to join in the first place.

In 2005, then-Liberal industry minister David Emerson thought he had secured Beijing's "approved destination status" (ADS) for Canada. But then the federal government changed hands and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed not to sacrifice human rights for the "almighty dollar."

Amid diplomatic tensions, approvals for Chinese tour groups took years to finalize. The ADS list is a way for Beijing to influence the travel and spending power of its millions of citizens overseas, and scholars have analyzed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used it to advance its political agenda .

Emerson, who crossed the floor to serve in Harper's cabinet as trade minister, continued to push China and even threatened to take Canada's case to the World Trade Organization, arguing Canada had been put at an economic disadvantage for purely political reasons.

Harper finally secured ADS during a visit to Beijing late in 2009.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen look out over Shanghai, China on Saturday, December 5, 2009.

Approved group tours began in 2010, leading to a significant expansion of air travel between the two countries and a boost for tourist destinations popular with Chinese visitors.

At the time, Beijing's inclusion of Canada on its list was estimated to be worth a potential $100 million annually for the travel sector, owing to a predicted influx of 50,000 tourists each year on these approved visits.

Chinese tourists, on average, stayed in Canada longer — and therefore had the opportunity to spend more — than visitors from other countries. Government officials at every level rushed to market Canada as eager for their business.

Then came the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport in 2018, the arrest of two Canadian citizens in retaliation, and the resulting deep freeze in Canada's bilateral relations with China.

The COVID-19 pandemic then turned off the taps almost completely, as Beijing stopped approving international group travel for its citizens.

Tourists as diplomatic weapons?

Thursday's reinstatement of endorsed group travel to dozens of international destinations sent a signal that Beijing now approves of its citizens spending money abroad again. Even the U.S., which continues to have a strained diplomatic relationship with China, was included on last week's list, as were other Western allies like Germany and the United Kingdom.

China's first batch of sanctioned travel approvals in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch approved for post-pandemic visits in March included 40 countries, notably Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil.

In total, 138 countries have now received this green light from Beijing — but not Canada.

Niagara Falls used to be one of the top attractions for Chinese tour groups. The president and CEO of Niagara Falls Tourism told CBC News she holds out hope that Chinese officials may yet add more countries.

"While the omission of Canada from this round of post-pandemic approved destinations is disappointing, Niagara Falls Tourism is optimistic that in the next phase of this staggered approach, that Canada again will be able to share the wonder of Niagara Falls with the Chinese group and tours market," Janice Thomson's office wrote.

The office of Canada's new tourism minister, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, told CBC News on background that Canada continues to request the reinstatement of approved destination status.

Three people stand in front of a temple in Thailand.

International media coverage of Beijing's announcement last week noted Canada's absence and its strained relations with China.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared a Chinese diplomat from its consulate in Toronto persona non grata earlier this year amid allegations of foreign interference and suspected election meddling.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government remains under pressure from opposition parties to take tough diplomatic stands against Beijing in response to allegations of foreign interference, harassment of members of the Chinese diaspora residing in Canada, the CCP's targeting of minority groups like Uyghurs and a number of documented human rights abuses, including the exploitation of forced labour by Chinese authorities.

In the past, when it has sought to send a political message and put pressure on Ottawa, Beijing has not hesitated to use the economic power of its millions of consumers to harm Canadian business interests.

China's been blocking Canadian beef for 17 months — and industry has no idea why
China has lifted a 3-year ban on Canadian canola, Ottawa says

The CCP's so-called "commodity diplomacy" has targeted Canadian agricultural exports like canola and beef, risking billions in lost exports as these sectors scrambled to find alternative markets.

Small tourism businesses have been arguing the federal government needs to give them more time to pay back the special loans extended to keep them afloat during the pandemic. They argue their economic recovery is not yet complete, despite an encouraging summer season in some places.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior reporter

Janyce McGregor joined the CBC's parliamentary bureau in 2001, after starting her career with TVOntario's Studio 2. Her public broadcaster "hat trick" includes casual stints as a news and current affairs producer with the BBC's World Service in London. After two decades of producing roles, she's now a senior reporter filing for CBC Online, Radio and Television. News tips: [email protected]

Follow Janyce on Twitter

With files from Reuters

Few Chinese keen to travel abroad soon, even if COVID curbs ease -report

Medium Text

A woman gets tested at a nucleic acid testing site, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai

Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Brenda Goh and Clarence Fernandez

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Casey has reported on China's consumer culture from her base in Shanghai for more than a decade, covering what Chinese consumers are buying, and the broader social and economic trends driving those consumption trends. The Australian-born journalist has lived in China since 2007.

Illustration shows China's and U.S.' flags

Captain under investigation after sinking of Lynch's yacht, source says

Italian prosecutors have placed Captain James Cutfield under investigation over the deaths of Mike Lynch and six others after the British tech tycoon's superyacht sank off Sicily last week, a judicial source told Reuters.

A general view of the Vietnam National Assembly during the opening ceremony of its 7th session, in Hanoi

Are Chinese citizens allowed to travel outside of China?

The answer to this question is yes, Chinese citizens are allowed to travel outside of China. However, there are certain requirements and restrictions that they must adhere to in order to do so.

One of the main requirements for Chinese citizens traveling abroad is obtaining a visa for the country they wish to visit. This process can vary depending on the destination, and it is important for travelers to research and apply for the appropriate visa well in advance of their trip. Additionally, Chinese citizens may be subject to travel advisories and restrictions from the Chinese government, particularly in relation to certain countries or regions with strained diplomatic relations.

Furthermore, Chinese citizens are required to comply with certain international travel regulations, such as adhering to customs and immigration laws, and carrying necessary travel documents such as passports and identification. It is important for Chinese travelers to stay informed about any travel advisories and security alerts in the region they plan to visit in order to ensure a safe and hassle-free trip.

1. Can Chinese citizens freely travel to any country they choose?

2. are there any specific travel restrictions imposed by the chinese government on its citizens, 3. do chinese citizens need to obtain a visa for international travel, 4. what are the essential travel documents chinese citizens need to carry when traveling abroad, 5. are there any specific travel regulations that chinese citizens need to be aware of when traveling internationally, 6. can chinese citizens travel to countries with strained diplomatic relations with china, 7. how can chinese citizens stay informed about travel advisories and security alerts when traveling abroad, 8. are there any specific precautions chinese citizens should take when traveling to certain countries, 9. can chinese citizens face any legal consequences for non-compliance with international travel regulations, 10. are there any travel insurance recommendations for chinese citizens traveling abroad, 11. what should chinese citizens do if they encounter any issues or emergencies while traveling abroad, 12. are chinese citizens allowed to travel for leisure or tourism purposes outside of china, frequently asked questions regarding chinese citizens traveling outside of china.

Yes, Chinese citizens are generally allowed to travel to most countries, but they must obtain a visa for certain destinations and adhere to any travel advisories or restrictions.

The Chinese government may impose travel advisories and restrictions on certain countries or regions, particularly those with strained diplomatic relations or security concerns.

Yes, Chinese citizens are required to obtain a visa for many international destinations. The visa application process varies by country and travelers should plan accordingly.

Chinese citizens must carry essential travel documents such as a passport, visa, and any required identification when traveling abroad.

Chinese citizens must comply with international travel regulations, such as customs and immigration laws, as well as any specific regulations imposed by the countries they are visiting.

Chinese citizens may be subject to travel advisories and restrictions from the Chinese government related to countries with strained diplomatic relations or security concerns.

Chinese citizens can stay informed about travel advisories and security alerts through reputable sources such as the Chinese government’s travel advisory website and international news outlets.

Chinese citizens should research and take precautions when traveling to countries with known security or health risks, and follow any travel advisories issued by the Chinese government.

Yes, Chinese citizens can face legal consequences for non-compliance with international travel regulations, including denial of entry, fines, and deportation.

It is recommended for Chinese citizens to consider purchasing travel insurance when traveling abroad, to ensure coverage for potential emergencies or unforeseen circumstances.

Chinese citizens should contact the nearest Chinese embassy or consulate in the event of issues or emergencies while traveling abroad, and follow their guidance and assistance.

Yes, Chinese citizens are allowed to travel for leisure or tourism purposes outside of China, as long as they comply with international travel regulations and any specific requirements of their destination.

This is just a broad overview of the questions that can arise when discussing Chinese citizens traveling outside of China. It’s important for travelers to understand the specific requirements and restrictions that may apply to their situation, and to stay informed about any travel advisories or security alerts. Safe and happy travels!

About The Author

Colin Fletcher

Measures for the Control of Chinese Citizens Travelling to or from the Region of Taiwan

(Valid From:1992.03.01)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 These Measures are formulated with a view to safeguarding the contact of the persons on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, facilitating the exchanges among various parties, and maintaining public order.

Article 2 These Measures are applicable to Chinese citizens residing in the Mainland (hereinafter referred to as Mainland residents) travelling to or from the Region of Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as Taiwan) and Chinese citizens residing in Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as Taiwan residents) entering or leaving the Mainland.

Those matters that are not specified in these Measures, but stipulated in other laws or regulations, shall comply with the laws or regulations.

Article 3 For going to Taiwan, Mainland residents shall pass through open ports or other designated ports of exit and entry on the strength of the travel certificates signed and issued by the exit-entry control departments of the public security organs.

Article 4 For entering the Mainland, Taiwan residents shall pass through open ports or other designated ports of entry and exit on the strength of the travel certificates signed and issued by the competent organs of the State.

Article 5 Chinese citizens travelling between the Mainland and Taiwan may not commit any act harmful to the security, honour or interests of the country.

Chapter II Mainland Residents Travelling to Taiwan

Article 6 A Mainland resident who desires to go to Taiwan for the purposes of settling down there, visiting relatives and friends, travelling, accepting and disposing of property, undertaking matrimonial or funeral matters or of participating in economic, scientific, technological, cultural, educational, physical and academic activities shall file an application to the public security bureau of the municipality or county where the applicant's registered residence is located.

Article 7 A Mainland resident who applies for permission to go to Taiwan shall go through the following procedures:

(1) to present for examination the residential registration booklet or the certification of residence status;

(2) to fill in an application form for travelling to Taiwan;

(3) to present the written remarks by the applicant's work unit or school concerning the travel to Taiwan, if the applicant is on job or in school; or the written remarks by the police station where the applicant's registered residence is located if the applicant is not on job or in school; and

(4) to submit the certifications relevant to the reasons for filing the application.

Article 8 The certifications as mentioned in Item (4) of Article 7 of these Measures refer to:

(1) Where a person wishes to settle down, the person shall present the certification testifying that he is actually able to settle down in Taiwan.

(2) Where a person wishes to visit relatives and friends, the person shall present the certification testifying to the kinship or relationship between the applicant and his relatives or friends.

(3) Where a person wishes to travel to Taiwan, the person shall present the certification testifying to the necessary travelling expenses.

(4) Where a person wishes to accept and dispose of property in Taiwan, the person shall present the notarized certification relevant to the applicant's lawful right of the property.

(5) Where a person wishes to undertake matrimonial matters, the person shall present the notarized certification testifying to applicant's matrimonial status.

(6) Where a person wishes to undertake funeral matters of his relative or friend, the person shall present relevant letters and notification.

(7) Where a person wishes to participate in economic, scientific, technological, cultural, educational, physical and academic activities, the person shall present the certification relevant to the invitation or consent from the corresponding organs, organizations, or individuals in Taiwan.

(8) Other certifications which the competent department deems it necessary to present.

Article 9 The public security organ shall, after receiving a Mainland resident's application for going to Taiwan, decide within 30 days or 60 days for one residing in a remote and not easily accessible place to approve or disapprove the application and notify the applicant about the decision. In the case of an urgent application, the public security organ shall make a decision as the occasion demands.

Article 10 With respect to a Mainland resident whose application for going to Taiwan has been approved, the public security organ shall issue the applicant a travel certificate or affix an endorsement in his travel certificate.

Article 11 A Mainland resident whose application for going to Taiwan has been approved, shall leave within the time limit specified in his travel certificate and return on schedule, unless he goes there for permanent residence.

If a Mainland resident already arriving in Taiwan cannot return on schedule due to disease or other special circumstances on its expiry of the travel certificate, he may file an application for the renewal of his travel certificate to the original-issuing public security organ or the competent organ appointed or authorized by the Bureau of Entry- Exit Administration of the Ministry of Public Security. With special reasons, he may file an application to the public security organ and go through the entry procedures at an entry port.

Article 12 The application filed for permission to go to Taiwan by a Mainland resident who comes under one of the following circumstances shall not be approved:

(1) being a defendant in a criminal case or a criminal suspect;

(2) being a person who is notified by a people's court owning to involvement in an unresolved suit case and may not leave the Mainland;

(3) being a convicted person still serving sentence;

(4) being a person undergoing rehabilitation through labour;

(5) being a person whose exit will, in the opinion of the competent department of the State Council, be harmful to the State security or cause a great loss to the State interests;

(6) being a person who has committed such fraudulent act as fabricating situations or presenting forged certificates.

Chapter III Taiwan Residents Entering the Mainland

Article 13 Taiwan residents who wish to enter the Mainland shall apply to one of the following organs for travel certificates:

(1) Those who wish to enter the Mainland directly from Taiwan shall file an application to the competent organs appointed or authorized by the Bureau of Entry-Exit Administration of the Ministry of Public Security. With special reasons, they may apply to the public security organ at designated port of entry and exit.

(2) Those who wish to enter the Mainland after their arrival in the Regions of Hong Kong or Macao shall file an application to the relevant organs in the Regions of Hong Kong or Macao appointed or authorized by the Bureau of Entry-Exit Administration of the Ministry of Public Security.

(3) Those who wish to enter the Mainland by way of foreign countries shall apply to the People's Republic of China's diplomatic missions or consular offices or any other resident agency abroad authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens.

Article 14 Taiwan residents applying for permission to enter the Mainland shall go through the following procedures:

(1)to present for the examination the valid certifications of residence status in Taiwan and exit-entry permits;

(2) to fill in the application forms;

(3) for Taiwan residents to enter the Mainland through other regions or countries, they shall present reentry permits issued by these regions or countries, except the regions and countries which do not need transit endorsement;

(4) for those who wish to settle down, to meet relatives or friends, to travel, to accept and dispose of the property, to undertake matrimonial and funeral matters, they shall present the corresponding certifications concerning the applicant's reasons for filing the application:

(5) for those who wish to engage in economic, scientific, technological, cultural, educational, physical or academic activities, they shall present the invitation letter (s) or the certifications of consent from the corresponding organs, organizations, or individuals in the Mainland.

Article 15 For a Taiwan resident whose application for entering the Mainland has been approved, the State's competent department shall issue the travel certificate or endorse the travel certificate.

Article 16 A Taiwan resident who comes to the Mainland for the purposes of taking part in the economic activities such as making investment and doing business or of handling other affairs and need to make frequent trips to and from the Mainland may file an application to the local public security organ of the municipality or county for the endorsement of the validity for multiple trips.

Article 17 Taiwan residents wishing to go to foreign countries after their arrival in the Mainland shall comply with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens and the Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens.

Article 18 Taiwan residents who come to the Mainland for a short stay shall, in accordance with the provisions of the administration of residence registration, go through the procedures for the registration of temporary residence; those who are accommodated in such enterprises and institutions as guest houses, hotels, inns, hostels and schools, or in State organs, public organizations and other institutions shall fill in the registration forms for temporary residence; those who stay in the homes of their relatives or friends shall, within 24 hours (72 hours in rural areas), go through the registration procedures for temporary residence by themselves, or by their relatives or friends, with the local police station or office for residence registration.

Article 19 A Taiwan resident who desires to stay in the Mainland for over three months shall apply to the local public security organ of the municipality or county for temporary residence permit.

Article 20 A Taiwan resident who desires to settle down in the Mainland shall file an application, before entering the Mainland, to the relevant organs appointed or authorized by the Bureau of Entry-Exit Administration of the Ministry of Public Security, or entrust his relatives or friends to file an application on his behalf to the public security bureau of the municipality or county where the applicant intends to settle down. After the approval is obtained, the public security organ shall issue to the applicant the certification for permanent residence.

Article 21 Taiwan residents shall leave the Mainland within the term of validity specified in their certificates, except for those who have settled down in the Mainland.

Those who are really in need of extending their stay in the Mainland shall submit the relevant certifications to the public security bureau of the municipality or county and go through the procedures for extension.

Article 22 The application filed for permission to come to the Mainland by a Taiwan resident who comes under one of the following circumstances shall not be approved:

(1) being a person deemed to have committed criminal act;

(2) being a person considered prone, after entering the Mainland, to the activities that may jeopardize the State's security and interests;

(3) being a person who has committed such fraudulent acts as fabricating situations or presenting forged certifications;

(4) being a person suffering from mental diseases or serious infectious diseases.

Those who enter the Mainland for treating their diseases or for other special reasons and whose application for entry may be approved are excepted.

Chapter IV Exit-Entry Inspection

Article 23 Mainland residents who travel to and from Taiwan and Taiwan residents who enter or leave the Mainland shall show their credentials to the frontier inspection posts at open ports or at designated ports of exit-entry, fill in and present the exit-entry registration cards and accept the inspection thereof.

Article 24 With respect to those who come under one of the following circumstances, the frontier inspection posts have the power to forbid them the exit or the entry:

(1) those who do not hold travel certificates;

(2) those who hold and use such invalid certificates as forged or altered;

(3) those who refuse to present travel certificates for inspection;

(4) those who are denied exit or entry under the provisions of Article 12 and Article 22 of these Measures.

Chapter V The Administration of Certificates

Article 25 The travel certificates held by Mainland residents for travelling to or from Taiwan mean the travel passes or other valid travel certificates for Mainland residents to travel to or from Taiwan.

Article 26 The travel certificates held by Taiwan residents for entering or leaving the Mainland mean the travel passes or other valid travel certificates for Taiwan residents to enter or leave the Mainland.

Article 27 The travel passes for Mainland residents to travel to or from Taiwan and the travel passes for Taiwan residents to enter or leave the Mainland shall be kept by the holders and the period of validity of the passes shall be five years.

Article 28 The travel passes for Mainland residents to travel to or from Taiwan and the travel passes for Taiwan residents to enter or leave the Mainland shall be endorsed once every time. The endorsement affixed in the travel pass is valid for one trip or for multiple trips.

Article 29 In the event of the loss of the travel certificates by Mainland residents, they must report the loss to the original-issuing public security organ; the organ may, having proved the case to be true through investigation, re-issue new corresponding travel certificates.

Article 30 In the event of the loss of the travel certificates by Taiwan residents in the Mainland, they must report the loss to the local public security organ of the municipality or county. After the public security organ has, through investigation, proved the case to be true, they are permitted to apply for receiving new corresponding travel certificates or the public security organ shall issue an exit pass which is valid for one trip only.

Article 31 The travel certificates held by Mainland residents for going to Taiwan or held by Taiwan residents for coming to the Mainland shall be revoked or declared null and void, if their holders come under one of the circumstances as stipulated in Article 12 and Article 22 of these Measures.

Article 32 The organ that examines and issues travel certificates shall have power to revoke travel certificates issued by it or declare them null and void. The Ministry of Public Security may, whenever necessary, change the endorsement, revoke travel certificates or declare them null and void.

Chapter VI Penalties

Article 33 Any person who has held and used such an invalid travel certificate as forged or altered or used another person's travel certificate for exit and entry may be solely or concurrently punished with a fine of 100 to 500 yuan (RMB), in addition to the penalties stipulated in Article 23 of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens.

Article 34 Any person who has forged, altered, transferred or sold travel certificates at a profit, may be solely or concurrently punished with a fine of 500 to 3,000 yuan (RMB), in addition to the penalties stipulated in Article 24 of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens.

Article 35 Any person who has fabricated situations, presented a forged certificate or resorted to bribery to obtain a travel certificate may be solely or concurrently punished with a fine of 100 to 500 yuan (RMB), in addition to the penalties stipulated in Article 25 of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens.

For those who have committed the aforesaid acts, their application for exit and entry shall not be accepted and handled within six months from the enforcement of their punishments.

Article 36 In the event that organs, organizations, enterprises or institutions are discovered to have fabricated situations, or provided forged certificates in order to help applicants obtain travel certificates, the exercise of their certificates-issuing power shall be suspended; if the circumstances are serious, their certificates-issuing qualifications shall be cancelled. Those persons who bear direct responsibility for the offence may be solely or concurrently punished with a fine of 500 to 1,000 yuan (RMB), in addition to the penalties stipulated in Article 25 of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens.

Article 37 Those who fail to apply for temporary residence registrations or permits in violation of the stipulations in Article 18 or 19 of these Measures shall be given a warning or be punished with a fine of 100 to 500 yuan (RMB).

Article 38 Those who stay in the Mainland illegally beyond the specified period of time in violation of the stipulations in Article 21 of these Measures shall be given a warning or may solely or concurrently be punished with a fine of 100 yuan (RMB) for each day beyond the time limit.

Article 39 If person who is punished does not accept the penalties imposed by the public security organ, he may, within 15 days of receiving the notice, appeal to the public security organ at the next higher level for a final decision; he may also bring a suit directly in a local people's court.

Article 40 For those Taiwan residents who violate the stipulations in these Measures or commit other offences or criminal acts after entering the Mainland, besides punished according to these Measures and other relevant laws or administrative regulations, the public security organ may curtail their period of stay or order them to leave within a specified period of time or deport them from the Mainland.

Those who are under one of circumstances stipulated in Article 22 in these Measures shall be deported immediately.

Article 41 Where a State functionary charged with the duty of implementing these Measures takes advantage of his position to extort or accept bribes, or commits any law-breaking act showing dereliction of duty, if the circumstance is minor, an administrative sanction shall be imposed by the relevant department; if the case is so serious as to constitute a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 42 The property obtained by any person in violation of these Measures shall be recovered, reimbursed or compensated. The personal effects used for committing the crime shall be confiscated.

The fines and confiscated property shall be turned over to the State Treasury.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 43 The Ministry of Public Security shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.

Article 44 These Measures shall go into effect as of May 1, 1992.

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China announced it will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals and resume outbound travel for Chinese citizens. But the announcement sparked concern among some overseas ...
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Tonga. Tunisia. Turks and Caicos Islands. United Arab Emirates. Uzbekistan. Vanuatu. Zambia. For visa-free travels, you still must have a valid passport — usually six months after your departure date— and you must purchase travel health insurance as required by your destination country.
Are Chinese citizens allowed to leave China?
What types of visas are available for Chinese citizens wishing to travel abroad? Chinese citizens can apply for various types of visas depending on their travel purpose, such as tourist visas, business visas, student visas, and more. The specific requirements and documentation may vary depending on the type of visa being applied for, and it is ...
Can international tourists visit China? Everything you need to ...
Can Chinese citizens travel abroad for leisure now? Prior to this month's loosening of restrictions, authorities in China had imposed a de facto international travel ban, forbidding citizens ...
Chinese tourists are traveling again, opt for domestic, remote travel
Prior to the pandemic, the majority (55%) of Chinese tourists opted to book their overseas travel through group tour operators, even as acceptance of independent travel has grown. That trend is ...
China Travel Advisory
Reconsider travel due to a limited ability to provide emergency consular services.Exercise increased caution due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws.. Summary: The U.S. government has a limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in the Macau SAR due to People's Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel restrictions on U.S. diplomatic personnel.
Chinese Tourists Are Again Embracing International Travel
The return of China's travelers has long been awaited in the travel industry, which is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels this year by contributing $11.1 trillion to the global economy. The ...
Chinese Travel Is Set to Return. The Question Is, When?
The country received 1.4 million Chinese visitors in 2019 who spent $12.4 billion. Chinese travelers have started to return to visit friends and family, but travel operators do not expect an ...
When And Where Will We See Chinese Travelers Again?
We forecast that outbound trips by Chinese travelers will recover to 2019 levels two years from now in the second quarter of 2023 at the earliest. The delay is caused by the requirement for herd immunity to be established in China and destinations before quarantine-free travel is allowed. China is not expected to achieve herd immunity until the ...
Covid in China: People rush to book travel as borders finally reopen
Chinese people have rushed to book overseas travel after Beijing announced it would reopen its borders next month. Passport applications for Chinese citizens wishing to travel internationally will ...
Can travel between China and the US help ease political tensions
The beginnings of a surge of Chinese traveling overseas is vital not only for business - prior to the pandemic, Chinese travelers made 155 million international trips and spent about $245 ...
Chinese Outbound and Inbound Travel Rules Roundup
At 138 countries in total, compared to 130 at the start of 2019, Chinese outbound group travel can be seen as fully restored, despite the absence of several countries (notably Canada) from this last list. ... Earlier in the year, South Korea had suspended issuing short-term visas to Chinese citizens, and in response, China stopped issuing short ...
China's Tourists Can Travel Again. Here's Why the World Is Still
Ctrip, China's largest travel agency, reported that overseas bookings from Jan. 1 to Jan. 10 had increased by 313% year-on-year, with Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia among the most popular ...
China says it will 'strictly limit' citizens from going abroad
China said it would "strictly limit" unnecessary outbound travel by its citizens amid escalating efforts to stamp out an outbreak of coronavirus that has already prompted weeks of city ...
How China's Approved Destination Status Policy Spurs and Hinders
In 1995, China's government formalized the ADS system under which Chinese citizens could travel in organized group tours to countries the government had approved. ... Only selected, government-approved travel agencies in China can sell overseas travel packages to ADS countries. In turn, approved countries must issue a special ADS visa ...
When will the world see Chinese tourists again?
Jane Li. Published May 16, 2022. For people in China, being able to travel abroad is a freedom that wasn't granted to them until the 1990s, when late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's economic ...
China Tourism Crackdown: Restricting Travel Abroad Will Hurt Everybody
A crackdown by Beijing on travel abroad sends a bleak post-Covid warning to its citizens and the global economy. May 22, 2022 at 3:30 PM PDT. By Adam Minter. Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion ...
China snubs Canada on its list of approved travel spots, setting back
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the safety and legitimate rights of overseas Chinese citizens and wishes they can travel in a safe and friendly environment," the ...
Few Chinese keen to travel abroad soon, even if COVID curbs ease
More than half of Chinese say they will put off travel abroad, for periods from several months to more than a year, even if borders re-opened tomorrow, a study showed on Tuesday, a sign that ...
Are Chinese citizens allowed to travel outside of China?
One of the main requirements for Chinese citizens traveling abroad is obtaining a visa for the country they wish to visit. This process can vary depending on the destination, and it is important for travelers to research and apply for the appropriate visa well in advance of their trip. Additionally, Chinese citizens may be subject to travel ...
China tightens ban on 'non-essential' overseas travel as lockdown anger
Authorities in China have imposed a de facto international travel ban, forbidding citizens from going overseas for "non-essential" reasons, as the government ramps up efforts to enforce its ...
Measures for the Control of Chinese Citizens Travelling to or from the
Measures for the Control of Chinese Citizens Travelling to or ... shall apply to the People's Republic of China's diplomatic missions or consular offices or any other resident agency abroad authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens ...