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Beijing is considering allowing foreign tourists a 72-hour windowto explore the capital without a visa. Fu Zhenghua, the city's director of public security, has confirmedthat authorities are mulling over the move, saying it wouldrepresent a crucial sign that Beijing is open to the world. Lin Song at the public security bureau's exit-entry administrationechoed that view on Sunday. "It's expected that the project willattract more tourists from abroad." Neither the bureau nor the Beijing Tourism Development Committee,which proposed the policy, would offer more details about the visawindow when contacted by China Daily. However, experts said the policy is expected to be similar to onesalready being run in Shanghai (48 hours) and South China's Hainanprovince (21 days for tour groups). "Shanghai and neighboring cities, such as Hangzhou and Wuxi, havebenefited greatly (since Shanghai introduced a visa waiver fortransit passengers), as it means foreign tourists can travel duringa 48-hour stay," said Jiang Yiyi, director of the China TourismAcademy's international tourism development institute. "With so many foreign people transiting in Beijing, the visa waiverprogram will allow many of them to tour around the ancient city." A tourism analyst, who did not want to be identified, told ChinaDaily that Beijing officials had considered a project last yearthat would allow visitors to stay in the capital for seven dayswithout a visa. However, the idea was shelved. "The newly proposed waiver would be a giant step forward, as thevisa policy plays a crucial role in the country's inbound andoutbound tourism development," said Dai Bin, president of the ChinaTourism Academy. Although China has relatively tight visa restrictions, and has fewvisa exemption agreements with other countries, Dai said thecountry has gradually loosened its visa policy in recent years. Hesaid many cities worldwide have come up with visa waiver projectsto attract more tourists, including Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur. "A tight visa policy will only wave goodbye to those potentialvisitors," he said. Li Xinjian, a professor of tourism at Beijing International StudiesUniversity, agreed and added that, as the number of Chinesetourists going abroad has soared in recent years, many countries,including the United States and Japan, have relaxed limits on visasto attract more tourists. Foreigners traveling to China spent 4.7 billion yuan ($743 million)more than Chinese outbound tourists in 2008, he said. However,Chinese tourists spent 4 billion yuan more than them a year later,and the difference exceeded 24.1 billion yuan in 2011. The proposed visa waiver for Beijing comes almost two weeks afterthe city's public security bureau launched a 100-day crackdown onillegal immigrants. Bureau director Fu said the campaign was to make sure eachforeigner is aware of China's exit-entry regulations while curbingcrimes by visitors who overstay or abuse their welcome. In response to complaints from some sections of the expatriatecommunity about the policy, the police issued a statement on Fridaysaying that the crackdown has not changed the city's friendlyattitude toward foreigners. On the same day, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei insisted thatthere is no "anti-foreigner trend" in China, adding that thecountry will welcome and protect the legitimate rights andinterests of the foreigners coming to China. Jiang said she believes there is little possibility that the visawaiver would result in an increase of illegal residents amongforeign tourists. What is more important, she said, is to stimulate China's inboundtourism. "It's vital that cities come up with reforms to boost inboundtourism," she said. "Other cities can learn from the experiences aswell." Wei Xiang, a professor of tourism management at BeijingInternational Studies University, said besides the boost to thetourism industry, the visa project will step up China's diplomacyand foreign trade with countries in the long run as well. "The policy will bring more benefits than we can imagine," he said. "The scrutiny that the city is undergoing (the 100-day crackdown)will make sure there is better security and public order in thecity," Fu said. I am an expert from personalized-lapelpins.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Personalised Bookmarks , China Custom Made Souvenir, Rare Collectible Coins,and more.
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