Australian travellers to get ‘visa-free’ status in China

China’s inclusion of Australia on its visa waiver program has been hailed by airport and tourism leaders as an important development.

China has announced it will add Australia to its visa waiver list of countries, meaning business trips or holidays of up to 15 days can be undertaken visa-free.

The announcement by visiting Premier Li Qiang followed a meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra, to discuss trade and other key issues.

As well as visa-free status for Australian travellers, Mr Li said China and Australia would provide “reciprocal access to five-year multiple entry visas for tourism, business and visiting family members”.

Currently an Australian visitor to China has to pay $109.50 for a single entry tourist visa.

Other countries included on the visa waiver list include Singapore, France, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, Malaysia and Thailand.

Although the Premier’s announcement was light on detail, the comments were seized upon by airports and tourism industry leaders as a positive development after a weaker than expected rebound of the Chinese visitor market.

In 2019, China was Australia’s biggest and most lucrative source of overseas tourists, worth $3.3bn a year.

Bureau of Statistics data for April showed China was back to second behind New Zealand, but the number of short-term arrivals into Australia from China was at only 60 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

Sydney Airport CEO Scott Charlton said the inclusion of Australia on China’s visa waiver program was an “important and welcome development” that would put fresh momentum into travel from Australia to China.

“In terms of inbound visitors from China, at the end of March this year we were just over 80 per cent recovered, and today’s announcement represents a good first step in continuing to backfill that gap,” Mr Charlton said.

According to Deloitte Access Economics, a daily A380 service from China to Sydney Airport contributed $632m in annual economic activity and supported an estimated 6000 full-time jobs.

Ghost Street in Beijing, known as Guijie, is one of the city’s biggest restaurant and bar streets. Picture: iStock

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley said China’s announcement was an encouraging sign, and would stimulate passenger volumes on outbound flights from Australia.

“That’s important because we need to have equitable volumes inbound and outbound to maintain those connections,” Mr Shelley said.

Qantas recently took the decision to suspend its Sydney-Shanghai service from July 28 citing a “lack of demand”.

Qantas International chief executive Cam Wallace revealed many of the flights were operating half full and the airline had decided to put the aircraft used on the route to other Asia destinations.

He indicated they would continue to closely monitor the China-Australia market and reconsider when demand had fully recovered.

Chinese carriers continue to restore capacity to Australia, with Beijing Capital Airlines starting a new service between Melbourne and Hangzhou on Monday.

The three-times a week flights in an A330 to China’s “tea capital” will help lift seat numbers from Melbourne into China to above 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin said the visa-free status for Aussies visiting China is a positive step towards more seamless travel between the two countries.

“It’s hoped the renewed focus on trade and tourism between the two countries will see an increase in airline capacity,” Mr Goodwin said.

“More airline seats available between Australia and China will mean more passengers through our terminals and out exploring our cities and regional areas as tourists.”

Originally published as Australian travellers to get ‘visa-free’ status in China