Editorial | Mainland China move allowing visa-free cruises can benefit Hong Kong as well
- Authorities should step up efforts to attract more cruise ships to the city and help it become part of multi-stop itineraries in the Greater Bay Area
Good news continues to come as mainland China launched another tourism measure, dropping visa requirements for foreign tour groups arriving at mainland ports.
The initiative will potentially benefit Hong Kong tourism at the same time as more cruise ships call in the city and in the Greater Bay Area. The relevant sectors and authorities should work closely together to seize the new opportunity.
Touted as a new engine for high quality development and the cruise industry, the relaxed rules enable foreigners in tour groups to stay up to 15 days without a visa through 13 mainland cruise ports.
Travel agencies handling the trips must be registered in mainland China. The group must enter and exit the country together and may travel to Beijing or any coastal province during the period.
Following a series of relaxation in rules to lure back foreign travellers after the pandemic, the latest move will buoy the cruise and tourism industries.
In the first quarter of this year, 13 million foreign travellers crossed the border into or out of mainland China – four times the figure in the same period last year, but around 40 per cent fewer compared with the first three months of 2019, according to National Immigration Administration figures.