China and Singapore signed an agreement to waive mutual visa requirements as of February 9, a move expected to boost tourism and business travel.
People from the two countries will no longer need a visa for a visit of less than 30 days, including tourism, family reunion and business trips. A visa is still needed for work, journalism and longer stays.
Since February 9 marked the beginning of the Lunar New Year with holidays in both countries, experts said the visa exemption would boost tourism in Singapore. Data from China’s leading tourism service platform Ctrip showed that just 10 minutes after the new rules were released, searches related to Singapore travel and sightseeing shot up by over 300 percent compared to the same period of last month. Popular tourism platform Qunar told media that searches for hotels in Singapore grew fourfold for the period after the visa relaxation rules come in.
China has waived visas of different types with 157 countries, and mutually simplified visa formalities with another 44 countries.
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