Inbound visitor numbers have been slow to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of foreign visitors to China well down from the pre-pandemic level. Leaving no doubt that the country is still welcoming visitors from other countries, a little more than three months ago, on Sept 27, the State Council, issued a notice outlining measures aimed at unleashing the potential of tourism consumption and promoting the high-quality development of the tourism industry.

Among these was a commitment to increase the number of flights to overseas destinations, the resumption of various visa-free policies, and measures to simplify travel and payment procedures for foreign visitors. The notice was swiftly followed by the introduction of a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia, which took effect on Dec 1 last year.

According to the National Immigration Administration, there were around 214,000 visitors from these countries in December, an increase of 28.5 percent compared with November. Of these inbound trips, 118,000 were made by holders of ordinary passports without a visa, accounting for 55.1 percent of all inbound trips from these countries during the month. This highlights the significant boost the visa-free policy can give to inbound visitor numbers.

Having signaled its intent to extend the visa-free policy to more countries, visitors from Thailand are also expected to be beneficiaries of the visa-exemption policy, with Thailand announcing a historic reciprocal permanent"visa-free" agreement with China, effective from March 1. With this year being designated as the ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People Exchanges, it seems likely that other ASEAN members besides Malaysia and Thailand will be among the future beneficiaries of the policy.

A rebound of inbound tourism would spur the Chinese economy's post-pandemic recovery, benefiting various associated sectors. But just as importantly, it would reinforce China's commitment to opening-up and global engagement. Beijing has repeatedly emphasized the importance of exchanges and communication between people from different countries and cultures so as to clear misperceptions of one another and so lay a solid foundation for inter-country relations.

By the end of June 2023, China had signed cultural and tourism cooperation documents with 144 countries under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Cities from 60-plus other countries involved in the BRI have formed more than 1,000 pairs of friendly cities with their Chinese counterparts. What China has achieved in its endeavors in promoting the BRI cooperation suggests how important it is for people from different cultures to conduct exchanges.