Tourism bureau applies for transit visa extension

The tourism administration has joined Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) to apply to extend the current 24-hour Transit Without Visa (TWOV) policy to seven days, after the head of the airport raised the proposal in the municipal people's congress in late January. As many as 4.5 million international travelers are expected to be affected, the tourism administration said.

Statistics on spending among travelers said the local tourism industry should benefit from an extra $4.5 billion due to the extension, according to the Beijing News yesterday.

Wang Meng, a travel agent for China Wonderful Tour, which receives about 300,000 international travelers annually, said a longer TWOV would attract more international travelers. However, he is not optimistic of a high quantity.