China unveiled a plan to boost the tourism industry and attract more foreign visitors by resuming visa-free policies and making travel and payments easier as the country began its National Day “golden week” holiday.

As per a story that appeared on South China Morning Post, the move came as travellers are expected to make nearly 900 million trips in mainland China during the public holiday marking National Day on October 1. This year the Mid-Autumn Festival overlaps with the National Day break, making it a longer holiday than usual and giving people more time to travel.

The document said efforts to strengthen inbound travel would be among the key measures to boost the tourism industry, which reopened in January after being halted for three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 Officials hope the holiday travel boom will give a short-term boost to China’s sluggish post-pandemic economy.

Other measures include encouraging local governments to integrate tourism with cultural events such as art performances, sports events and exhibitions, as well as improving management of tourist resorts and launching promotions to boost holiday consumption.

The plan also promises to make visa application processing more efficient, restore visa-free policies, leverage port visas – those applied for and granted at the border – and to allow exemptions for transit and regional entry visas.

It calls for more research and an increase in the number of visa-exempt countries, as well as expanding international air travel by adding more routes, especially to countries that are primary sources of tourists.

South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and Australia were among the biggest sources of foreign tourists for China in 2019, according to data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

There are 18 countries that have mutual visa exemptions with China for ordinary passport holders, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Most of them are developing countries.