The Chinese government has announced that it will be issuing new passports for tourists from January 2023. The announcement comes at a time when China has eased its Covid-19 travel barriers. The upcoming Lunar New Year holiday is considered to be one of the busiest travel seasons in China. Tourists in millions are expected to visit the country during this time, reported Associated Press. The move will allow Chinese visitors to add some revenue in the starved destinations of Asia and Europe and on the other hand it can be seen as a danger sign too, as it might help in fanning the Covid-19 cases.
The widely criticised China’s “zero-COVID” policy was recently scrapped by the government after massive nationwide protests against it. Under the stringent rule, millions of people were confined to their homes. No doubt, it helped in decreasing the number of Covid-19 cases but the government faced huge nationwide protests against the policy. The world’s strictest anti-virus control norms developed frustrations among the public and badly affected economic growth.
China will start entertaining visa applications for tourism by the 8th of January as said by the National Immigration Administration, the AP report said. It also added that they will recommence issuing approvals for visiting Hong Kong for tourism and business to Chinese travellers.
As per current norms, China has already eased out most of the quarantine and testing rules within the country. This results in making the country to live in with the virus likewise Japan and the United States. China had stopped issuing passports to the travellers, businessmen, and students since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic. If in any case people were allowed to enter the country, they were supposed to be quarantined for one week. Tourist travel to China was completely banned earlier.