A glimpse of China's inbound travel policy from latest plan

For those who are keen to know the prospect of China’s policy on its inbound travel restriction, a tourism development plan issued Thursday by the State Council provided some clues.

The plan, with nearly 200,000 words that cover a wide variety of tourism topics, mentioned “inbound travel” for multiple times. I translated the related part as below and my takeaways are 1) Safety or the effective prevention of COVID-19 is still the prerequisite of adjusting China’s inbound travel policy 2)  Both of the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes of the complex international environment will be put into consideration for the adjustment of the inbound travel policy  3) The adjustment will be taken one step at a time, with some promotion activity to encourage and attract people to travel to China.

九、完善旅游开放合作体系

NINE:  IMPROVE OPENING-UP AND COOPERATION SYSTEM OF TOURISM

立足中华民族伟大复兴的战略全局和世界百年未有之大变局，把握国际复杂形势和新冠肺炎疫情发展态势，在危机中育新机，于变局中开新局，加强形势分析和政策储备。在全球新冠肺炎疫情得到有效控制的前提下，依托我国强大旅游市场优势，统筹国内国际两个市场，分步有序促进入境旅游，稳步发展出境旅游，持续推进旅游交流合作。

Based on the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and unprecedented changes in the world,  it is necessary to have an accurate understanding of the complex international situation and the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, find new opportunities in crisis, blaze trail in changes, and improve the situation analysis and policy options. On the premise of the COVID-19 pandemic being effectively controlled, the country will promote inbound tourism step by step in an orderly manner, steadily develop outbound tourism, and continue to promote tourism exchanges and cooperation by taking advantage of China's strong tourism market and coordinating the domestic market and the international market.

（一）分步有序促进入境旅游。

(A) Promote inbound tourism step by step in an orderly manner

及时研判国内外新冠肺炎疫情防控形势、国际环境发展变化，科学调整有关人员来华管理措施，在确保防疫安全的前提下，积极构建健康、安全、有序的中外人员往来秩序。适时启动入境旅游促进行动，出台入境旅游发展支持政策，培养多语种导游，讲好中国故事，丰富和提升国家旅游形象，审时度势采取有力措施推动入境旅游高质量发展。

It is important to timely study and judge the situation of the prevention and control of COVID-19 at home and abroad, as well as the development and changes of the international environment, and scientifically adjust the management measures related to visitors coming to China, so as to actively build a healthy, safe and well-managed order for the movement of Chinese and foreign people on the premise of ensuring the safety in epidemic prevention. The country will timely launch the inbound tourism promotion action, introduce policies to support the development of inbound tourism, train multilingual tour guides, tell China story to the world, enrich and enhance the national tourism image, and size up the situation to take effective measures to promote high-quality development of inbound tourism.

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与旅游客源国、客源地在国际航运、边境通行、疫苗接种、旅游团队组织、医疗保险等方面加强沟通，本着对生命健康高度负责的态度，始终坚守安全底线，把疫情防控放在首位，严格执行国际客运航班“熔断”措施，动态精准调整来华人员入境政策。科学制定并实施入境旅游疫情防控技术指南，强化入境旅游接待重点人员、重点场所防控，严格落实门票实名制预约制度。……

It is necessary to strengthen communication with source countries and regions on international shipping, border passage, vaccination, travel group organization, medical insurance, etc., always adhere to the bottom line of safety with a highly responsible attitude towards life and health, put epidemic prevention and control in the first place, strictly implement the "circuit breaker" measures for international passenger flights, and dynamically and precisely adjust the entry policy. The country will scientifically formulate and implement the technical guidelines of epidemic prevention and control, strengthen the prevention and control of epidemic regarding key personnel and key places for inbound tourism reception, and strictly implement the real-name reservation system for tickets.

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Please note any analysis in this newsletter only represent my personal view. Feel free to write back to me if you notice any error. Your suggestion will be highly appreciated.