China's visa-free travel extension is expected to boost New Zealand's interest in visiting the nation, according to experts.
China launched a 15-day visa-free policy to New Zealand earlier in the year - and they've extended it to 30 days on a 'trial basis' until the end of 2025.
BloggerAtLarge.com writer Megan Singleton says this move was done to boost tourism - and travel agencies and businesses have approved of these changes.
Read more about Megan's travel tips for China here.
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You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin from News Talks AB Travel with Wendy wu Tours unique fully inclusive tours around the World.
Megan Singleton is with us now blogger at large dot com.
Good morning, Good morning, Francesca.
Hey, some good news. If you're a keywiend you're planning on traveling to China.
Yes, so, up until last month, we kiwis have had to get a visa to visit China and so most other countries in the world, you know, and that took a few weeks to get cost about two hundred dollars and it was a right pain because I've been three times to China now took a tour group there in twenty nineteen. But as of last month's they've lifted that requirement. So New Zealanders as well as a whole bunch of countries not Americans, so ken travel to China for up to thirty days visa free until the end of twenty twenty five. So it's not a permanent thing. I guess they're testing that. They're probably desperate for tourism if you look at it, you know, to be honest, but it is going to make a big change to people like us who want to get over there. It's going to save you know, a couple of hundred dollars on any tour you might want to take, or you know, shopping things like that that China's famous for. And I think that's great news. So I didn't know if people would have known that already, but I've just added it to my blog post on twenty five things you need to Know before you go to China, which covered a whole lot of my first impressions and things that I didn't sort of realized that I needed to know and now I do, so that's good.
And there are also several Chinese airlines flying direct from New Zealand.
Yes, of course, yes, that's right. I meant to say that. Yeah, so you know, back before COVID, we had about eight different airlines, different Chinese owned airlines, flying several times a week in and out of New Zealand. And that not only opened up China for US as a direct flight, but it really opened up all that onward travel too, through Asia and on Europe. So there a lot of those are back and they are competitive, So I would urge people to look at those they're flying the Dreamliners, same aircraft as in New Zealand, sometimes a different configuration and business class sometimes cheaper, probably often cheaper. So I definitely look at that if you're planning to visit China or going further afield and maybe you know and doing the stopover now that you can do visa free in Shanghai or Bancho or any of the other cities where these airlines are coming out from. So nice little tip there. China's still really cheap. I mean, Asia is still cheap. So it's a really great holiday and I'm all for it. I mean, there's so many fascinating facts about China. I don't know how much time you've got. I could go on.
Share with me a couple of the things that surprise you the most.
Okay, the main thing was that it's all on one time zone, and actually if you looked at the map of China, it would span eight time zones. So when you're up and doing your shopping in Shanghai the farmer over on the West coasters in the dark, to get any selfur and coverage or get on the internet, you're going to need a VPN, which is a virtual private network maybe, yes it is. I've got it written on my own blog, so that will allow you to access the websites that you're used to accessing all the time. But what you'll find is an amazing blend of culture. Old old architecture, two thousands year old architecture. But right above those or behind those are skyscrapers that look almost futuristic. Makes places like Shanghai look like they're like these skyscrapers look like their gravity defying. But then underneath you'll see these sweet little tea houses that you can still go and sit in, and it's just so fascinating. The Yankse River is still incredibly popular. I'm just skipping through my blogs. You'll need to download we chat. Yeah, so it's great fun, good worth going back to
I Think For more from the Sunday session with Franchessca rud listen live to news Talks at b from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio