The State Immigration Administration ("SIA") has recently issued an announcement, deciding to offer visa-free access for foreign tourists from 59 countries to Hainan Province.
The announcement states that, upon approval of the State Council, the policy of enabling tourists from 59 countries to pay a visa-free visit to Hainan Province will come into force from May 1, 2018, in a move to further support all-round and in-depth reform and opening-up in Hainan. According to the announcement, the visa-free access policy to be implemented this time involves changes in the following three respects. First, the scope of countries from which tourists are eligible for this visa-free policy is widened, increasing from the previous 26 countries to 59 countries. This is conductive to encouraging more foreign tourists to travel in Hainan and forming a more opening situation. Second, the permitted stay under the visa-free policy is prolonged, as the 15-day or 21-day visa-free stay previously offered is uniformly prolonged to up to 30 days, in a bid to boost the more dynamic development of the inbound tourism market. Third, limits on the number of visa-free tourists are eased. In the future, not only tourists that are invited and received by travel agencies, but also individual foreign travelers, will enjoy the visa-free entry, as the eased policy is designed to satisfy demands of foreign tourists to travel individually.