Visas for Russians to China: issuance resumed, problems remain

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the resumption of the issuance of all types of visas for foreign citizens from March 15. The Celestial Empire, closed to guests due to a pandemic for exactly three years, once again opens its borders to everyone. “MK” found out the details of this event from representatives of both ours and the Chinese travel industry. When should we expect a massive flow of Russians to China?

Recall that since March 28, 2020, the Celestial Empire has temporarily suspended the entry of foreign citizens on existing visas and residence permits due to the coronavirus pandemic; around the world, Chinese consulates have suspended the issuance of visas, as well as all visa-free transits. Subsequently, the country’s authorities began to slowly ease the measures, but in the past three years, only holders of work and family visas could enter China.

The message of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also states that from March 15, the validity of non-expired visas issued before March 28, 2020 will be restored. As for Russian tourists, our tour operators especially emphasize the fact that the visa-free entry policy for cruise liners is being resumed. This will allow Russians to travel by sea along routes calling at Chinese ports.

But it is too early to talk about a sharp resumption of the tourist flow from Russia to China.

“We are still waiting for information on when and how the acceptance of documents for visas at the consulate will resume,” Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, told MK. – Only after receiving the first visa will it be possible to say that tourist entry to China has resumed,

“It is possible that the procedure for issuing visas to Russians will not change, but so far this cannot be said with complete certainty,” tour operators are cautious.

– The news is very good, but these are only classic visas, that is, tourist visas, which we could not get before. And between our countries there is also a mechanism for group visa-free trips, which is now being technically coordinated, – Dmitry Gorin, vice-president of the Russian Union of the Tourist Industry, explained to MK. – To do this, lists of tour operators must be approved. We are all looking forward to group visa-free travel, which is more convenient for both our and Chinese tourists. Of the one and a half million Chinese, 1.2 million tourists entered Russia through this mechanism. But the dates for the restoration of the group visa-free regime have not yet been announced.

The second issue that needs to be addressed in order to restore the flow of Russian tourists to China is the availability of air travel. Now there are not so many flights and the cost of tickets is twice as high as before the pandemic. If we talk about our vacationers, then the Hainan resort is very popular with them, and visa-free entry will be implemented just to Hainan. But there will still need to plan tourist flights. “After these two issues are resolved, tour operators will be ready to immediately start organizing tours to China,” Gorin concluded.

“The entire tourism industry was waiting for this decision,” Natalya Osipova, director of the Alliance of Travel Agencies Association, shared with MK. – China is known for its varied holiday offers, but the most important thing is that the Chinese love Russian tourists and are very friendly with them. And we should not forget that China and Russia are connected by bilateral relations in the field of tourism – this is also inbound tourism, which is very important for Russia.

“MK” found out the attitude to this event from a Chinese woman Lin Xia, representing a Russian-speaking tour operator in China. She has been dealing with Russian-speaking tourists for ten years – from Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Israel, Kazakhstan, Georgia …

“We have been waiting for this in China for three long years,” she told MK. – Although earlier, since January, businessmen could come to China on work visas, but they did not issue tourist visas. And Russian tourists asked me every day – when will visas be available?! A week ago, a Russian client booked a Moscow-Beijing ticket for the end of March, although at that time it was still unknown about visas. But she really wants to go to China, she wrote to me that she was at the consulate on Monday, but she could not get a visa, “they don’t even issue a group one.” This morning I told her this great news. And I hope that she will have time to apply for a visa, before it was possible to do this in a week.

And here is how Russians who have already been there remember their stay in China:

– The biggest inconvenience in China is that the Chinese do not understand English. I don’t know about Beijing and other tourist centers, but in smaller cities this is very difficult, ”Muscovite Yulia, who was on an internship in the Chinese city of Changsha, told MK. – My friends and I, students from European countries, could find out something from local residents only by using gadgets for translation. But the problem is that in every region they have different languages, different dialects.

There is also a terrible heat and very spicy food everywhere, very unusual for the stomachs of Europeans. I was also struck, for example, that Chinese men walk around with bare bellies (they wrap their T-shirts).

But nature, of course, is very beautiful, which is worth only Zhangjiajie Park, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200b”soaring mountains” of which was taken as the basis in Avatar. By the way, the Chinese have a real cult of people with a European appearance, everyone admires you, they come up on the streets and offer to work as a model.