Planning a trip to China without having the right information in hand might discourage a higher number of travellers of choosing the country as their next travel destination.
According to Bloomberg News, China has tightened visa rules for visitors, adding requirements for a letter of invitation and proof of hotel reservations in a move that could slow its push to become the world’s biggest tourism destination.
Travellers applying for tourist visas, must now also submit a letter from an “authorized tourism unit,” company or person inviting them to China, along with a photocopy of their round-trip ticket and hotel reservation, according to rules posted on the website of China’s Embassy in the U.S.
To obtain a business, or F Visa, applicants must now have an invitation letter or “confirmation letter of invitation” issued by an authorized Chinese agency. This goes in addition to an invitation letter issued by a Chinese local government, company, corporation or institution. For tourists being invited by an individual, a photocopy of her or his identification must also be provided.
The rule changes come after Chinese authorities have put foreigners’ status in the country under greater scrutiny and sought to clamp down on people entering the country illegally. The World Tourism Organization has predicted that China may become the world’s biggest destination for tourists by 2015.
“If implemented strictly, the new requirements could have an impact on the number of foreign tourists” and revenue among travel agencies, said Zhang Lu, a Shanghai-based analyst at Capital Securities Corp., China International Travel Service Corp., the country’s biggest tourism company by market value, will “certainly be affected,” she said.
The new visa materials were not demanded before Aug. 1, according to visa.ywpw.com, a Texas-based agency that helps customers obtain visas to China. China’s embassies and consulates in countries including Japan, Thailand and New Zealand also posted the new rules on their websites.
China overtook Spain in 2010 to become the world’s third- biggest tourist draw, with 55.7 million visitors that year, behind only France and the U.S., according to data from the World Bank. That’s more than double number of tourist arrivals in 1999, when China saw 27 million visitors.
In mid-May, Beijing began a 100-day campaign aimed at cracking down on foreigners working or living in the country without proper documentation. The National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, approved a new law June 30 that increased the penalty for illegally entering or working in the country. In a blog post in May, a top host for China’s state-owned national television station, Yang Rui, said Chinese police should focus on Sanlitun and another Beijing neighborhood, Wudaokou, to “arrest foreign thugs and protect innocent girls.”
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
