More eligible individuals from cities can issue “personal travel visas” for travel between Hong Kong and Macao, which can further increase the number of tourists and help market development.
The National Immigration Administration issued a notice on May 11. With the approval of the State Council, the Exit Entry Administration of the People’s Republic of China decided to issue “personal tourism endorsements” to qualified people from 8 cities, including Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, Lhasa, Xizang Autonomous Region, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, Xining, Qinghai Province, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, from May 27, 2024.
The announcement pointed out that from now on, registered residence residents and holders of residence permits in the above eight cities can apply to the local public security organ’s entry and exit management manual window, or the intelligent endorsement device located in the manual window, for “individual tourism endorsement” or “team tourism endorsement”. Personal travel endorsement includes: endorsement once every 3 months, endorsement twice every 3 months, endorsement once a year, and endorsement twice a year when traveling to Hong Kong; Go to Macau for endorsement once every 3 months and once a year. The holder of the endorsement shall not stay in Hong Kong or Macau for more than 7 days each time.
One hour after the news was announced, the popularity of residents searching for keywords related to Hong Kong and Macau air tickets and hotels on the Ctrip platform increased by over 30% compared to the previous day.
According to Wang Yalei, an industry analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, since the beginning of this year, tourism orders from the eight cities mentioned above to Hong Kong and Macao have increased by more than 80% year-on-year, with Northwest cities such as Yinchuan, Xining, and Urumqi experiencing a year-on-year growth of more than double. The upcoming Dragon Boat Festival and summer will also drive more mainland residents to travel to Hong Kong and Macao.
The tourism industry believes that Hong Kong and Macao tourism has always had a relatively high market share, especially the free travel mode is more suitable for Hong Kong and Macao tourism. More eligible individuals in cities can issue “personal travel visas” to travel to and from Hong Kong and Macao, which can further increase the number of tourists and help the development of the tourism market.