Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun presided over the regular press conference held today (February 12). A reporter asked: The announcements of relevant departments show that ASEAN countries' tourist groups can enter Xishuangbanna, Yunnan without visa from February 10. Data shows that during this Spring Festival, China received more than 3.43 million inbound tourists from 175 countries and regions, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year. Some commentators believe that this fully reflects China's continuous efforts to facilitate personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries. What does the spokesperson have to say about this? Will China introduce more measures to optimize entry?
Guo Jiakun said that today is the Lantern Festival, the traditional Chinese festival of the Chinese nation. First of all, I want to wish you all peace, happiness, joy and health. During this Spring Festival holiday, "check-in" in China's New Year customs has become a new fashion, and the Chinese people warmly welcome foreign friends. Major tourist cities have achieved consumption "no sight" and foreign tourists can enjoy convenient mobile payments. Many places and departments in China have also introduced and implemented supporting measures for cultural and tourism with visa-free policies, improved customs clearance efficiency, facilitated cross-language communication, improved one-stop services such as accommodation, catering, and tourism, and piloted the efficient "buy and refund" tax refund model of "buy and refund". From online to offline, from national doors to store doors, the all-round and full-chain "silk" experience makes foreign tourists feel at home, and allows them to see an open, confident, civilized and safe China.
Guo Jiakun said that more than 110 measures to facilitate personnel exchanges, unilateral visa-free for 38 countries, and 240-hour transit visa-free... These policies reflect China's firm determination to practice high-level opening up, and are also practical actions taken by China to build an open world economy. In the future, China will continue to optimize its entry policy and continuously expand the scope of visa-free countries, so that more international friends can feel the credible, lovely and respectable China.
(CCTV reporter Zhao Jing)
