Photo: AFP/Imaginechina/Luo Yunfei
Eurasia
22/03/2024 10:30
Popular tourist destinations in China for inbound tours include Shanghai; Beijing; Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province; Chengdu, Sichuan province; Hangzhou, Zhejiang province; Qingdao, Shandong province; and Xiamen, Fujian province, Trip.com said.
"The expansion of the scope of visa-free policy to different countries, as well as strengthened efforts to improve payment services for foreign visitors, are expected to help promote a fast recovery in inbound tours," said Qin Jing, vice-president of Trip.com Group.
"People from developed European countries such as Switzerland, Belgium and Austria boast high recognition for visiting China, and the number of travelers from those countries is expected to see rapid growth with further resumption of international flights," Qin said.
Since China announced the visa-free policy on March 7, searches for China-related keywords from those countries have surged, with hotel-related keyword searches jumping more than threefold year-on-year from March 7 to Thursday, Trip.com found.
The six European countries have frequent business contacts with China. Trip.com said last year, business travel orders to China from those countries recovered to 90 percent of 2019 levels, and the number of orders has continued to grow rapidly this year.
Meanwhile, Hungary recently announced the issuance of long-term visas for Chinese business executives who visit the country for investment and cooperation.
As Washington aims to decrease its trade deficit and strengthen domestic production, global value chains are facing new pressures to restructure. This change poses significant challenges for both European and Chinese producers as the flow of decade-long input and final good channels is disrupted. Is this a new opportunity for the two economic zones to further strengthen their relationship thereby mitigating some of the negative effects of US trade policy?
For the first time, a Hungary–New Zealand Business Forum was held in Budapest in late May, organised by the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA). On the margins of the event, Eurasia spoke with Simon Bridges, CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber.