Tourists won’t yet be welcome when the country reopens on Jan. 8. But once all the hurdles are removed, new experiences will be waiting.
(Bloomberg) — After nearly three years of pandemic shutdown, China is reopening to the world on Jan. 8. Quarantine requirements will be lifted, and passengers will need only to present a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken 48 hours before departure.
This wider reopening comes just as the country experiences a major wave of the Omicron variant that has overwhelmed funeral homes and hospitals. Cities such as Beijing have reportedly moved beyond peak infection rates, but rural areas are expected to be hit hard this month. The outbreak is expected to subside after the Chinese New Year at the end of January.
Not all types of travelers will be welcomed in this first round.
If you’re a leisure traveler eager to be among the first to explore a post-Covid China, you’ll have to wait. Tourist visas aren’t being issued yet, and no date has been set for when that will change.
“The visa priority will be given to families, businesses and students,” says a visibly thrilled Albert Ng, co-founder of Wild China, an experiential luxury travel company based in Beijing. “Tourists coming to China—we think that will be the second half of the year. But in the meantime, we are already getting a lot of inquiries from companies and schools.”
Many businesses want to bring their senior management into China for meetings, and schools are eager to restart exchange programs, Ng explains.
Dasha Westerfield, owner of River Oaks Travel, a Virtuoso boutique agency based in Houston, says her agency isn’t yet seeing interest for leisure visits to China or Hong Kong. “We are still kind of in a hold pattern for the normal traveler to go see China.”
The official statement from China’s government points to a gradual reopening. Chinese passport processing will start on Jan. 8, but there’s no mention of inbound tourism or about tourist visa issuances at China’s global consulates. Even if you’re an American who holds an unexpired 10-year tourist visa for China, it won’t be valid until a government announcement authorizes inbound leisure tourism, Westerfield explains. Flights to China remain scarce and expensive.
“We are starting now to see, little by little, interest to go back to India for example, so I am assuming—once it’s going to be more streamlined and people can go normally as usual—then the interest will return,” she says.
Shanghai-based online travel agency Trip.com has reported receiving inquiries about tourism visas as soon as news broke of China’s reopening.
Keep in mind that as a tourist, you could face possible future Covid-related entry restrictions, aside from visa requirements, if China makes good on its vow to hit back at countries that have been imposing testing or banning entry to its citizens “for political goals.” Uncertainty caused by Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine and potential geopolitical tensions could impact travel at a moment’s notice.
“When people are deciding to travel—first of all, look at the State Department restrictions for travel,” Westerfield advises, in addition to looking at the Republic of China’s website for visas.
New Ways to Experience China
Even if you can’t visit China on a leisure trip right now, it’s a good time to prepare, Ng says. “It may take a few months to get a visa, but we can start to understand what you want and tailor it. This will be the right time to go because things are just opening up.”
There is much to look forward to when visiting post-pandemic China, partly because of the surge in demand for outdoor travel.
“We think that future leisure travel to China will be quite different from what we had before Covid,” Wild China’s Ng says. Before Covid, she notes, most people focused on the bigger cities. “In the past three years, China has developed a lot of infrastructure in the rural areas and in the mountainous areas, so there are a lot more cool spots for hiking, for meditation, for health tourism and so forth.”
Camping spots and boutique hotels have also emerged. Of approximately 26,000 camping-related companies in China, including for luxury camping, 60% were founded after the pandemic hit, according to market research firm DragonTrail International).
During the pandemic years, Wild China led tours for the expatriate leisure market, mostly diplomats asking to visit the most remote parts of China. It led the company to create small-group hiking tours that take you deeper into China’s outdoor heritage.
New experiences from Wild China in 2023 include a six-day tea journey through mountainous Fujian province in the southeast, one of China’s key tea-producing areas, visiting tea farms as you pass temples and monasteries. The new Jingxi Ancient Trail launching in March 2023 will take visitors on a five-day hike along an historic trading route used to connected travelers to Beijing for thousands of years. Traipsing through the mountains takes you along Buddhist temples, Catholic churches and mining villages while staying in campsites and lodges.
Other popular sights among locals this winter holiday season have also focused on nature: birdwatching in Qingdao, where thousands of seagulls migrate to the waterfront every year; hiking the desert scenery at Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake Nature Park; and admiring the ice formations in Yanqing district, north of Beijing.
Relaxing on beaches in Sanya, on the southern tip of China’s Hainan island, is another favorite, as are trips to Xishuangbanna for its rainforests, botanical gardens, river cruises and cultural experiences.
Since Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics, skiing’s popularity has soared among Chinese. New resorts include luxury family brand Club Med Beidahu in the northeast, as well as Jikepulin Ski Resort in Xinjiang province in the northwest, home to more than 80 ski resorts.
That’s not to say China’s cities have lost their luster. Iconic metropoles will remain must-sees, including the Great Wall, easily accessible from Beijing. Popular destinations for the upcoming 2023 Spring Festival holiday, celebrating the Chinese New Year, also point to Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, according to data from online travel agency Ctrip. International hotel brands have been expanding in China’s cities, too. Among the most highly anticipated is Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, opening late in 2023 in historic Suzhou, a city known for its pagodas and canals.
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