China’s New Visa Rules Might Impact Its Tourism Development

China’s New Visa Rules Might Impact Its Tourism Development

China’s new rules to visa application might impact the growth of their tourism industry. Tourism experts say. The government of China has recently released an order regarding the application of visa stating that all visitors applying for a tourist visa should include a letter of invitation, proof of hotel reservation and photocopies of tourists’ round- trip tickets.

Information on the purpose of the visit, the relationships of the inviter and invitee, address, contact information and signature are also required. Reports say that the purpose of adding requirements to visa application is that it can lessen and easily identify those people entering the country illegally. China’s embassies and consulates from all countries posted the new rules on their websites.

“If implemented strictly, the new requirements could have an impact on the number of foreign tourists” and revenue among travel agencies, said Zhang Lu, a Shanghai-based analyst at China International Travel Service Corp., the country’s biggest tourism company by market value, will “certainly be affected,” she said.

According to reports, the newand more complicated requirements also created so much confusion, communication challenges and, in some cases, a struggle to meet deadlines and travel schedules. Tourists are also encouraged to stick in their travel dates to avoid further inconvenience.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Thursday August 23 2012, 1:55 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0