Reached mutual visa cooperation agreement with Maldives to boost tourist numbers: China

Beijing: China on Wednesday said it has worked out a “comprehensive mutual visa cooperation” agreement with 23 countries, including the Maldives amid Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s efforts to woo more Chinese tourists to the Indian Ocean island nation.

Beijing is currently trying to work out either visa-free or liberalising visa procedures with various countries to boost the declining number of international tourists to China and to enable its citizens to travel abroad more freely.

“China’s visa-free circle of friends continues to expand, and more and more countries have officially entered the visa-free era," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told the media here.

He said that so far China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different passports with 157 countries.

“So far, China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different passports with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries, and achieved comprehensive mutual visa cooperation with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Maldives, and the United Arab Emirates visa-free," Wang said.

Reference to the Maldives is significant as Muizzu, regarded as a pro-China leader, during his recent visit here urged Beijing to boost Chinese tourist numbers to his country, amidst a diplomatic row with India, one of the major tourism markets for the island nation.

According to data released by the Maldives Tourism Ministry earlier, India has remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023.

Official figures released by the Maldives Ministry of Tourism this week, the country received more than 1.74 lakh tourists till January 28 this year, of which only 13,989 were Indians.

Russia topped the chart with 18,561 tourists from the country visiting the Maldives, followed by Italy (18,111), China (16,529) and the UK (14,588).

Before Covid, China held the top spot with over 2.80 lakh tourists but is currently struggling to revive its domestic and foreign tourism due to a nearly four-year lockdown policy and the continued slowdown of its economy.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang said that in addition, more than 60 countries and regions offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival convenience to Chinese citizens.

“The above-mentioned measures have made it more and more convenient for Chinese citizens to travel abroad, and the 'gold content' of Chinese passports has become higher and higher. They have also provided more convenience for foreigners to travel, work, study and live in China, and have been widely welcomed by the international community,” he said replying to a question.