China to loosen border restrictions for some tourists

China today said it would said it would ease border restrictions to allow some foreign tourists and visitors to enter the country, government officials said according to Reuters News Service.

China is the third-largest country in the world by land mass and borders 14 other nations – Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, China has been one of the most restrictive nations when it came to tourism and outside visitors. In general, only those holding work visas were allowed to enter China. Now the government has adopted a set of draft rules to incrementally ease those restrictions.

According to Reuters, tour groups will be allowed to enter the country as well as where they would like to enter and exit from.

It’s a move by the Chinese to follow the rest of the world, which has been slowly but consistently opening its borders and welcoming foreign visitors for the better part of the last six months to a year.

But for U.S. tourists looking to visit China, it remains a tenuous situation. Late last month, the U.S. government suspend 26 international flights operated by Chinese airlines in retaliation for the Chinese government suspended flights by American carriers due to COVID-related rules.