Southwest China's Chongqing launched a one-stop online application for entry port visa services, the first digitalized entry port visa project in China on Thursday, to improve convenience for foreign tourists entering China and to support the high-quality development of Chongqing's inbound tourism industry.
The Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, together with the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau's Exit-Entry Administration, held a press conference on July 10 to brief relevant services.
"The application significantly improves the efficiency and accuracy of information collection for travel agencies, saving them substantial labor and time costs," said Yang Shu, Director of the Port Visa Office at the Chongqing Public Security Bureau's Exit-Entry Administration.
The new application uses OCR technology to collect passport information, replacing manual entry with automated processes. It allows travel agencies to submit group entry visa applications online, achieving the goal of "only one visit needed" for port visa applications. This dramatically reduces the time and economic costs for travel agencies, improves the accuracy of information entry, and makes it much easier for foreign tourists to visit Chongqing.
Several travel agencies have already piloted the application with positive feedback. Agencies participating in the trial reported a marked improvement in information collection accuracy and efficiency, reduced application submission times, and significantly decreased workload.
"This application will greatly enhance the efficiency of handling inbound business," said Sun Yong, Deputy General Manager of Chongqing Baosheng Travel Group. "Business partners, tour groups, and individual tourists from around the world can now complete visa applications and approval processes more conveniently through the online platform, avoiding the cumbersome paper submissions and long waiting times of traditional methods. Hosting international visitors will save a significant amount of time and effort for our company and other tourism enterprises, facilitating quicker business collaborations or travel experiences."
This digital solution is expected to be available to enterprises via the YuKuaiBan platform, an online government service platform of Chongqing, within this week and to government users via the YuKuaiZheng platform by next week.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, together with the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has introduced a series of policies to further enhance the convenience of inbound tourism, such as restoring the 24/72/144-hour visa-free transit policy and granting visa-free entry to international cruise ship tourists. These measures have significantly boosted foreign tourists' willingness to visit China, with the number of inbound tourists showing a noticeable increase.
In the first half of 2024, national immigration authorities inspected 287 million border crossings, a 70.9% year-on-year increase. The number of foreigners entering through Chinese mainland ports was 14.635 million, a 152.7% year-on-year increase.
In 2023, the Chongqing Exit-Entry Administration issued port group visas for foreign inbound tourist groups, a 70% increase compared to 2019. The proportion of foreigners entering through Chongqing ports with port group visas rose from 10% in 2019 to 50%.
Hongyadong is one of the must-see destinations for tourists. (iChongqing file photo)
Adam, a tourist from Canada, said, "Having visited Chongqing before, I can say this new application is a major improvement. This new digital system sounds incredibly efficient and user-friendly. Knowing that I can quickly handle all the visa requirements online would make me more inclined to visit again. Chongqing is a beautiful city with so much to offer, and this initiative shows how committed they are to enhancing the experience for international tourists. It's a smart move that will surely attract more visitors and make repeat trips more appealing."
The application, part of the "Digital Chongqing" initiative, addresses challenges such as dynamic management of tourism resources, insufficient public information services, and the need for intelligent tourism service regulation. Approved in October 2023, it is designed to cover the entire tourism industry process, from resource management to quality supervision.
Future developments will focus on modernizing the governance capabilities of Chongqing's super-large urban tourism industry, optimizing the application’s data collection, and enhancing service supply, market monitoring, and performance evaluation, ultimately improving the governance system and capabilities of Chongqing's tourism industry.
(Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development is the member of IMTA)
Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen
Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan
Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong
