The stay-trippers

By Jiang Jie Source:Global Times Published: 2014-4-7 20:28:01



Foreign tourists take a group picture on the Canton Tower in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province on August 6, 2013. They were with the first tourism group to visit Guangzhou after the 72-hour visa-free transit policy was enacted in the city. Photo: CFP

Spanish travel enthusiast Cristian is pondering whether a two-day trip to visit his friend in Shanghai will actually come to pass.

He has carefully planned his trip with the help from his Shanghai-based friend Jennifer Ren - to confirm the details of the most delicate part of his journey.

"He feels uncertain about the visa. I've reassured him about the 72-hour visa-free transit, but his friends seem to have had upsetting experience with the policy," said Ren.

The visa-free transit policy has been implemented in eight airports in four cities and three municipalities across China, after it was first introduced in January 2013.

With valid international travel documents and a ticket for a connecting flight (with confirmed date and seat) to a third country or region, passengers from 45 countries under the transit visa exemption program can spend three days enjoying the metropolises in the Chinese mainland.

The visa-free policy, a significant opening-up measure aimed at boosting tourism and developing major Chinese airports into global aviation hubs, has been shuffling forward amid security concerns and high expectations from the outside world.

Transit to threats?

As the world anxiously waits for conclusive news about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, people are also worrying about the security loopholes that the tragedy has revealed.

China's visa-free transit policy was put under the spotlight. Observers said that China might have discovered the stolen passports of two passengers on MH370 beforehand had they been required to apply for visas to transfer through Beijing.

In response, some experts have argued that visa-free policies, though they stand a chance of being abused, do not naturally lead to weaker border checks.

"We only canceled the application for a Chinese visa," said Liu Guangcai, a professor with the Civil Aviation University of China. "Passengers still undergo a check on their flight ticket for the following trip and visa for the next destination, if required. It is unfair to say that airlines have relaxed inspections. As stakeholders, they shoulder the same responsibility," Liu told the Global Times, adding that security has always been the top priority for the aviation industry.

A series of measures have been designed to prevent possible security threats. For example, China requires that the ID information of everyone aboard international flights be sent in advance to the Ministry of Public Security for a background check, according to Zhao Hui, a customs law expert with the China University of Political Science and Law.

The US suspended its visa-free transit programs in 2003, after receiving intelligence about terrorism organizations planning to use visa and passport exemptions to access flights that land in and depart from the US.

The visa-free policy is also exploited by illegal immigrants, which also happens in China, though on rare conditions, according to Liu.

Disappointed travelers

As experts call for strengthened border control to combat dangerous criminals using fraudulent travel documents, frequent travelers are voicing their complaints.

Jeremy Porter, co-founder of the Beijing-based China DIY Travel, told the Global Times that though many foreign travelers welcome the policy, problems still exist at the level of the airlines and airport.

"Some airline employees are not familiar with the policy and still ask for a visa when you can go visa-free," Porter said, adding that the Shanghai airports do not have a special gate or passage for visa-free transit, which is confusing for many first-time travelers to China.

"There is also a kind of ticket that reads 'Beijing to Bangkok,' but somehow it stops and transfers at Kunming. In that case, you will have to leave Beijing within 24 hours because you are not leaving for a third country," said Porter.

This is common practice for flights with stopovers while en route to a third destination, particularly when the transfer airport is usually not displayed on the ticket, said Yang Chao, an aviation expert with Air China Limited.

"This is a grey area where the visa-free policy cannot be employed at Chinese airports, either because you are not arriving from a foreign country or you are not leaving for a third one," Yang told the Global Times, adding that in these cases, airline companies must book another flight for disappointed customers.

Yang notes that another group of travelers regularly denied the chance to enjoy the 72-hour stay are Indian engineers who hold US green cards.

Every July to October, more than 50 percent of Air China flights from the US to India transfer through Beijing. But Indian passengers on those flights cannot enjoy the 72-hour visa-free transit because India is not one of the 45 qualified countries. Meanwhile, their green cards do not make them US passport holders either.

Moreover, the lack of tailored travel packages and services that would allow luggage to be checked straight through to the third country have also affected tourism, experts noted.

A total of 1,746 foreign tourists took advantage of the visa-free transit policy at Beijing Capital International Airport in January of this year, a year-on-year increase of 184.8 percent since the policy was enacted a year a go, according to Beijing tourism authorities. Yang said that this increase was lower than he had expected. There have also been multiple media reports saying that the anticipated surge in tourism had failed to materialize.

A long way to go

In January, the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference heard a proposal to extend visa waivers for international transit passengers up to seven days, a move that many experts favor.

"China needs to offer more freedom and time for transit passengers, in order to attract more people to boost the economy and to compete with international airports. A 72-hour stay in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai is far from enough for tourists or businessmen," Liu noted, adding that Dubai offers a 96-hour visa-free transit and Hong Kong is known for its weeklong policy.

China has vowed to make the airports in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou into large-scale international airport hubs, as well as to nurture the gateway airports in Kunming, Yunnan Province and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to a guideline plan from the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued last year.

Yang pointed out that China's aviation industry lacks a top-down structure to coordinate different sectors. For example, airports in different cities are administered by different authorities. "This makes it hard to realize the blueprint," he said.



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