Overseas travel agencies bullish on China's inbound tourism

Overseas travel agencies are raring to tap into the Chinese tourism market's potential as the country's positive policies continue to sweeten the deals being offered.

Sanne Prestegaard, a travel consultant from Sinex Travel in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently had a mishap that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Prestegaard had planned to visit Shanghai for the China International Travel Mart, which was held from Nov 22 to 24. She applied for a visa in early November, and encountered a few hassles.

"I tried to apply online from home, but I had problems with the visa application system accepting the photos I had taken, so I gave up and decided to go to the visa center on Nov 8," she recalled.

Although Prestegaard had prepared what she considered was the correct visa application material — including copies of her documents and her profile photos — she still fell short of meeting all the requirements as she had failed to provide details of her flight tickets.

"They had not been issued yet, so I was supposed to go back the following Monday," she said.

However, later that day she heard the news that China had extended its visa-free policy to nine countries, namely: Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein and South Korea, starting Nov 8.

"I was so happy and lucky," Prestegaard said about the visa-free entry, adding that it saved her both time and money.

Liu Laila, who has arranged trips for Danes to China for about three decades, is excited about the latest policy.

"I clearly feel there is a recovery after the pandemic, but the number of Danish tourists coming to China is still not large enough," said Liu who joined the travel mart event in Shanghai to explore new destinations for her customers.

"The challenge we face is that there are fewer flight routes to China, and flight ticket prices have risen, especially during peak seasons," she added.