Cruise ship passengers enter China, expanding 15-day visa exemption areas - Chinese report

The scope of areas where the 15-day visa exemption measure applies to foreign travel groups entering China on cruise ships will be expanded.
On the 15th, China's National Immigration Administration announced that it would ban foreign travelers on cruise ships from that day.
Tour groups (two or more people) are from Tianjin, Dalian in Liaoning Province, Shanghai, Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, Wenzhou and Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province, and Xiamen in Fujian Province.
The government announced that it would allow people to enter the country under a "15-day visa exemption" through the ports of 13 cities: China, Qingdao in Shandong Province, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, Beihai in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Haikou and Sanya in Hainan Province.
The seven new ports that have now been granted the 15-day visa exemption are Dalian, Lianyungang, Wenzhou, Zhoushan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beihai.
Foreign tour groups coming ashore for sightseeing must be guided by a Chinese travel agency and must stay on the same cruise ship from entry to departure.
In addition, the area in which such tourists can move after landing will be limited to coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and Beijing.
"If the visa exemption policy for foreign tourists is established, more foreign tourists will be able to visit China easily and exchange and travel," he said. "It will be beneficial not only for the cruise travel market, but also for other tourism and food and beverage industries.
"This is an opportunity for the development of the Japanese economy, the service industry and other sectors together."