On February 10, the State Immigration Administration announced the visa-free entry policy of the ASEAN National Tourism Group to Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, and the inbound tourism in the southwest region has once again gained benefits.
According to the data provided by Ctrip to the Beijing Business Daily reporter, one hour after the announcement, Ctrip overseas platform users from ASEAN countries searching for Xishuangbanna increased by 37% over the previous month.
According to the policy, tourist groups (two or more people) from 10 ASEAN countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and other countries will be received through our domestic travel agencies with regular passports, and will enter the country through visa-free organizations at the Xishuangban Naikou International Airport, Mohan Railway Port and Mohan Road Port. They can leave the country.
The activity scope is in the administrative area of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and the stay period is not more than 6 days.
How did Nisshuangbana become the visa-free entry area of the ASEAN National Tourism Organization this time?
It was found that Nishinjubana is a transportation hub for ASEAN countries, and is also one of the tourist destinations in Japan that tourists from ASEAN countries are obsessed with.
In addition to its unique cultural and tourism resources and convenient inbound transportation conditions, in recent years, it has constantly put efforts into the cultural and tourism industry, and Xishuangbanna has attracted more foreign tourists.
According to the data of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, in 2024, Xishuangbanna Prefecture fully promoted the construction of a strong state of culture and tourism, and from January to December, the whole prefecture received a total of 70.439,000 domestic and foreign tourists, an increase of 13.44% over the same period last year.
Tourism spending was 105.89 billion yuan, up 8.04% from the same period last year.
According to the data of Ctrip, since the beginning of this year (January 1 - February 9), tourist orders to Xishuang Banna from tourists from ASEAN countries have increased more than 2.5 times compared with the same period last year.
Among the ASEAN countries, Thailand and Malaysia have been selected as the Top 10 tourist source countries in the Western Hemisphere since entering this year.
On the official website of Xishuangbanna Prefecture Culture and Tourism Bureau, on January 3, 2025, according to the "Tender Announcement on the Purchase of Services for the Laos-Thailand Cultural Tourism Promotion and Recommendation Activity Project" published by Xishuangbanna Prefecture Culture and Tourism Bureau, in mid-January 2025, 5 actors, 10 non-heritage inheritors, cultural creation enterprises and cultural tourism enterprises participated in the project. Three roadshow activities were held at the China-Lao railway trains, Vientiane, Laos, and Bangkok Landmark Hotel, Thailand, to showcase the rich foundations of ethnic culture in Xishuang Banna.
Traffic data can also reflect the advantages that Xishuangbanna has developed inbound travel.
According to the data of flight attendants, during the Spring Festival holiday in the Year of the Snake, the airport passenger handling volume in Yunnan Province totaled 1.91 million, an increase of 0.6% over the same period last year.
Among them, the arrival volume of Xishuangban Naxing Airport increased by 49.1% over the same period last year, becoming the airport with the largest increase in Yunnan Province.
Because of its proximity to the ASEAN countries, passengers from ASEAN countries can travel to and from Xishuangbana by air, both by rail and by land.
According to the data of the Mohan Immigration and Exit Border Security Inspection Bureau, from January 28 to February 4, the Mohan Port (including road and rail ports) on the China-Laos border inspected more than 27,000 foreign tourists from 47 countries and regions, an increase of 110 percent over the same period last year.
On the other hand, looking at the source countries, the number of tourists from ASEAN countries is relatively high among the source countries of incoming tourists in Japan.
According to Cheng data, during the Spring Festival of the Snake Year, the top 10 inbound tourist sources were South Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Russia, Australia and France.
Where to go Xiao Peng, a researcher at the Big Data Research Institute, said that during the Spring Festival period, tourists from Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam came to Japan to experience the "Year of Japan" because of the close culture.
The implementation of the visa-free policy will enable tourists from ASEAN countries to visit Japan more conveniently and at a lower cost, laying the foundation for deeper play.
Zhongxin Tourism (7.330, 0.00, 0.00%) Group Media Public Relations Manager Li Mengran believes that Yunnan has very rich tourism resources such as Dali and Puer.
This policy can take Xishuangbanna as the gateway and Yunnan as the stepping stone for the development of inbound travel, which can help foreign tourists to feel and understand Japan in an all-round way.
In the future, Zhongxin Tourism Group will launch more products such as Yunnan one-place tourism, connecting Xishuangbanna with surrounding areas.
Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute, said the visa waiver policy has important significance in further expanding inbound tourism routes and promoting the development of inbound tourism in our country.
Next, our country will continue to open the visa-free entry of tourist groups to other tourist countries, thereby, outside of free travel, further excavate the tourist base, expand the customer base for the inbound travel market of relevant cities, and more domestic cities may accelerate entry into the global tourism market.
Guan Chen Niu Qingyan, reporter of Beijing Business Daily
Release date: 2024-07-10 13:46:42
