The umbrella organisation representing travel agents and tour operators across Europe, ECTAA, has called on the European Union to ease the visa and entry rules for Chinese travellers.
Speaking at a conference held in Macau, the President of ECTAA, Frank Oostdam, noted that China already permits visa-free entry to more than 20 European countries and called on the bloc to ease entry rules for Chinese visitors in return, Schengen.News reports.
Oostdam said that the association will continue to ask the EU Commission to lower the threshold for foreign visitors despite the political climate not being encouraging, referring to the tighter entry restrictions introduced by a number of member states.
At the same time, Oostdam said that they would want to see more people travelling freely, Macau Business explains.
We would love to see as many people as possible travelling the world, but I’m not that confident. We are very much in favour of free movement, because if people get to know one another, we will have a better world.
We Would Like to See Equivalent Solution for Chinese Visitors, APAVT Said
The President of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT), Pedro Costa Ferreira, also commented on the matter.
He said that the association would like to see an equivalent solution from the EU for Chinese visitors. He further argued that the current visa rules hinder mobility, suggesting that permitting visa-free entry for Chinese tourists would benefit both parties.
We would very much like to see it happen – that is ECTAA’s view, and it is also APAVT’s position. Visas hinder mobility, and mobility benefits the world.
It is yet to be seen what the EU’s response will be to these calls and whether measures will be taken to facilitate travel to the bloc for Chinese visitors.
China Has Been Pushing for Visa-Free Access to EU
China has expressed its hope to be included in the list of countries whose nationals are permitted visa-free entry to the EU several times.
Earlier in March of this year, the Chinese Ambassador to Portugal, Zhao Bentang, said that to reach this goal, the country has been in close contact with the Portuguese and EU authorities.
Bentang emphasised that the Chinese government hopes that the visa rules will be facilitated for Chinese tourists, traders, and businesspeople.
He also noted that the visa-free travel agreement with the bloc would be of great importance for nationals of the country, especially those who need to enter the EU for business purposes, as the visa rules have been restricting them.
Currently, China permits visa-free entry to nationals of 28 EU/Schengen countries. Under the visa-free regime, EU citizens eligible for entry to China without a visa can stay within the country’s territory for up to 30 days for tourism, business, visiting family and friends, and transit purposes.