After three long years, Chinese are finally able to travel in and out of their country without facing draconian restrictions.
China's self-imposed isolation hurt economic growth and stirred a public backlash. This prompted Beijing to abruptly drop its zero-COVID policy in December, and join the rest of the world that has decided to coexist with the virus.
From Sunday, people flying into China will be allowed to go straight at home, or visit restaurants and other venues for the first time since March 2020. Scores of people were due to cross the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border on the day without mandatory testing or quarantine.
The border reopening with Hong Kong will be done "gradually and orderly," according to China's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office. Authorities will allow more flights from Hong Kong to mainland China and lift caps on passenger totals.
PCR testing after crossing into Shenzhen is no longer required for the 60,000 people allowed to travel between Hong Kong and mainland China each day. A system will be implemented from Jan. 8 to March 4 for people to book a border-crossing time slot for the seven entry points. More than 250,000 people have registered to travel in the coming weeks.
Those entering the mainland from Hong Kong are required to have a negative PCR test result within 48 hours of departure.
The Hong Kong government said it aims to resume high-speed rail by Jan. 15 after a nearly three-year hiatus.
Lang Jin, a student in Hong Kong from Guangxi province, said she was worried about the limited quota. She also complained that the booking website crashed on its launch day.
"I may wait till they have all the border crossings open and higher quotas in the next few weeks to travel to the mainland," said Lang.
Some Hong Kong residents are waiting for the Lunar New Year to return to the mainland to see relatives.
"I haven't seen my parents for thee years since COVID [broke out], and I'm booking my tickets to visit my family in January," said Summer Yang, an equity analyst. "I booked a long holiday and hope to stay until after the Chinese New Year to spend more time with my family."
Hong Kong residents have been rushing to get foreign mRNA jabs in anticipation of travelers inoculated with Chinese vaccines pouring into the city. Mainland Chinese residents have flocked to Macao to get vaccinated with BioNTech vaccines, which are perceived to be more effective than domestically produced versions available on the mainland.
Throughout the pandemic, Chinese stuck overseas have struggled to return home. Authorities halted foreign visitors to the country and tightened curbs on overseas travel for citizens by tightening passport control. Many international airlines axed flights after Beijing imposed mandatory quarantine in designated facilities for incoming travelers, who were also subject to constant PCR testing.
But despite the easing of restrictions, travelers wanting to enter Hong Kong or fly overseas may have to wait as China's National Immigration Administration deals with a flood of applications. An officer at the Public Security Bureau's Exit-Entry Management Bureau in Eastern Shandong province told Nikkei Asia all new applications will start to be processed from Sunday.
"We expect outbound tourism to grow more than inbound tourism into China this year," said Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS Investment Bank Research. "Tourism is a key part of the China services GDP."
The top executive at China's largest online travel agency said a lack of international flights is preventing a full recovery in the outbound Chinese tourism industry despite the resumption of quarantine-free travel.
Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun told Nikkei she was "prudently" optimistic that China's travel industry may return to 2019 levels by the end of the year.
Source: Nikkei Asia
BDST: 1012 HRS, JAN 7, 2022
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