Since September 1, Chinese travelers have been able to take off
for Europe without applying for special permission from the
state.
The countries included in the arrangement are Switzerland,
Norway, Iceland, Romania, Liechtenstein and all the European Union
members except Britain, Denmark and Ireland.
However, Chinese travel agents are implementing tighter controls
to prevent illegal emigrants from taking advantage of outbound
tours, said a spokesperson with the National Tourism
Administration (NTA). Travelers must turn over a large cash
deposit to travel agencies as a pledge against illegal
emigration.
The first Chinese tour group to travel to Europe departed from
Beijing on September 1 via Air China. The
50-plus-member group is taking a 12-day tour through France,
Switzerland and Italy.
The tour group, made up mostly of government representatives,
VIPs and journalists, arrived in Switzerland on September 4.
Swissinfo reports that the arrival of the group was cause for
celebration: as proof that Beijing's decision to grant the country
approved destination status (ADS) was bearing fruit.
Swiss tourism has been in the doldrums for some years.
Switzerland Tourism, the national tourism office, is predicting
that the number of nights Chinese spend in Swiss hotels will treble
to 300,000 by 2007, putting Chinese second behind only the Japanese
among Asian travelers.
Last year, there were 20 million outbound Chinese, an increase
of 21.8 percent over the previous year, according the NTS. By the
end of the year, the number of Chinese travel agencies qualified to
offer outbound tourism packages reached 528. There were fewer than
70 in 1999.
(China Daily September 6, 2004)