There’s a new kind of welcome mat outside China’s front door, and it doesn’t require a visa, at least for passport holders of 75 countries! According to Business Today, as of July 2025, travellers from 74 countries can now enter China and stay up to 30 days, visa-free. On July 16, that number will bump to 75 with the addition of Azerbaijan. Here’s all you need to know about this update.
China Opens Visa-Free Travel
This is not just about boosting tour group bookings to the Great Wall. It’s about reshaping how China is seen and accessed. After years of pandemic lockdowns, empty airports, and diplomatic frostbite, Beijing wants to welcome foreign tourists. To make this happen, China has rolled out visa free travel for more than 70 countries. So, if you’re from France, Brazil, or Japan, then you can stroll around Shanghai, or simply spend a month exploring Xi’an, Chengdu, or the neon chaos of Shenzhen–without any red tape, embassy queues or paperwork headaches.
What prompted this change? Well, foreign tourism is on the rise in China. In 2024, more than 20 million foreign travellers entered China visa-free. This is not just a number, it is a statement. It’s nearly a third of all international arrivals that year. But the visa-free deal is a one-year trial. There’s no guarantee it won’t deflate after 12 months. Also, even if you overstay, even by few days, you could be fined, deported, or quietly blacklisted from reentry.
Countries from Europe, East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East dominate China’s welcome list. The big absentees? The U.S., Canada, Australia, and most African nations. For some, like the U.S. and Canada, China’s thrown in a workaround: a 10-day visa-free transit window, usable at 60 designated ports if you’re on your way to a third country. Most of the African nations have also been left out.
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Travel Industry Is Buzzing
China’s new visa-free travel policy has already created waves in the travel industry. Platforms like Trip.com and Booking.com are reporting double the travel bookings for 2025, compared to the same time last year.
“Our inbound tourism has already recovered to 70 to 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels. It could be fully recovered this year,” James Liang, chairman of China’s leading online travel service Ctrip told The Paper.
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Hainan’s Been There, Done That
It’s worth pointing out: this whole visa-free thing isn’t entirely new. Hainan Island, often called China’s Hawaii (which frankly doesn’t do it justice), has offered 30-day visa-free access to 59 countries for years. It was China’s travel sandbox.
The difference now is of scale and intention. Let’s see where China’s modern travel mission takes the country.
Here Is The Full List Countries Being Offered Visa-Free Travel In China:
Europe (30-day visa-free entry):
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Switzerland
Europe (10-day visa-free transit only):
- United Kingdom
- Czech Republic
- Sweden
- Lithuania
- Ukraine
- Russia
South America (30-day visa-free entry):
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Chile
- Peru
- Uruguay
Asia and Oceania (30-day visa-free entry):
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Japan
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Uzbekistan
Middle East (30-day visa-free entry):
- Bahrain
- Kuwait
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
Central Asia and the Caucasus (30-day visa-free entry):
- Azerbaijan (from July 16, 2025)
- Georgia
- Kazakhstan
North America (10-day visa-free transit only):
- United States
- Canada
- Mexico
Cover Image Courtesy: LiYang/Unsplash
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