visas for chinese tourists.

Visas for Chinese tourists: Mainland Chinese enthused about longer visas included in FTA

By Huey Fern Tay
Posted about 2 hours ago
PHOTO: Chinese tourists are worth more than $5 billion to Australia. (ABC News, file photo)
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MAP: China
Chinese travel operators have welcomed Australia's new multiple-entry, 10-year visa, the result of the Australia-China free trade agreement signed on Wednesday.
The new rule makes Australia the fourth country to offer Chinese nationals a decade-long visa.
Singapore, the United States and Canada also have similar schemes.
Visitors from China are Australia's number one source of tourists, officially worth more than $5 billion.
This value is expected to rise alongside China's growing middle class.
According to Tourism Australia, visitor numbers from the mainland increased to about 877,400, a jump of 18.4 per cent between February 2014 and February 2015.
Tony Chen, from online travel service company Haiwan, said the new visa rule would raise interest among would-be travellers.
ChAFTA pros and cons:


Who are the main beneficiaries of the free trade deal with China, who misses out, and where might some Australians be left worse off?
"Australia is in our top 10 list of destinations," he said.
"Visitor experience could be improved if there were more Chinese language services available."
Australia expects more than 200 million Chinese people to travel outside their country by 2020.
This week, the United Kingdom also announced it would be making visa applications easier for Chinese visitors through a partnership with Belgium.
"The Government continues to progress the roll-out of online visa lodgements for Chinese nationals, in an effort to reduce unnecessary red tape whilst at the same time ensuring we maintain the integrity of our visa programs," said Michaelia Cash, Australia's assistant minister for immigration and border protection.
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