China, Singapore plan reciprocal 30-day tourist visa-free policy
Print Edition
CHINA and Singapore agreed on a 30-day visa-free policy yesterday that is likely to see a boom in tourism between the two countries.
“Both countries will work out the implementation details of the mutual 30-day visa exemption arrangement and implement it in early 2024,” the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin confirmed the agreement on mutual visa exemptions for citizens of the two countries.
“At present the competent authorities of the two countries are in close communication on specific matters,” he told a regular news briefing. “Both China and Singapore look forward to the early implementation and coming into force of relevant arrangements.”
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also Singapore’s finance minister, made the announcement during the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation in Tianjin yesterday.
He said personnel exchanges between the two sides were increasing, with flights between both countries recovering to close to pre-pandemic levels, Singapore’s main Chinese language paper Lianhe Zaobao reported yesterday.
“The 30-day mutual visa exemption arrangement between our two countries will also support such progress, which can promote more personnel exchanges and strengthen the cornerstone of bilateral relations,” it quoted him as saying.
According to Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com, the news sparked considerable interest in travel to the island state among Chinese travelers.
Trip.com reported a 90 percent rise in China-Singapore flight ticket searches by yesterday afternoon.
The travel operator said Singapore is a popular outbound destination for Chinese and a major inbound market for China.
Singapore received 1 million Chinese tourists from January to September, about 35 percent of that in the same period of 2019.
China waived visas for Singapore passport holders for 15-day trips since July.
Tongcheng Travel, another online travel provider, reported that Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong residents were most interested in Singapore as of 2pm, up 18 percent from the day before.
Cheng Chaogong, a researcher with the travel operator, expects Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, now all offering visa-free travel for Chinese travelers, to form a golden outbound travel route.
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