Tourists set to travel light overseas

An increasing number of countries are modifying their visa-application procedures in the hope of attracting more visitors from China, as Su Zhou and Zheng Xin report.

Many Beijing residents have just been given an unexpected six-day holiday to coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit being held in the Chinese capital in November. The surprise break has resulted in a boost for tourist agencies, and the big winners will be domestic tourism spots and countries that have loosened their visa-application procedures.

"The number of trips booked to countries with easier visa-application processes has risen sharply in the past few days," said Dai Yu, marketing director of the Tourism Department of Ctrip, an online travel service provider. "When we introduce our travel products, we recommend those countries because of the limited time on offer.