China has begun offering visa-free travel for Cambodian nationals to its Xishuangbanna Prefecture.
The move, aimed to increase inbound tourists from the Southeast Asian region, also caters to travellers from all members of the Asean grouping except Timor-Leste.
The initiative, revealed on Monday, by China’s National Immigration Administration, aims to boost tourism in the region.
Under the policy, tourist groups of at least two people holding ordinary passports from the above-mentioned nations can stay in Xishuangbanna for up to six days without requiring a visa.
Cambodian nationals can now enter and exit Xishuangbanna through designated ports, including the Xishuangbanna Gasa International Airport, Mohan Railway Port, and Mohan Highway Port.
However, their travel will be restricted to the Xishuangbanna Administrative Region.
In addition to attracting tourists, China is working to enhance its immigration systems to encourage international travel and business opportunities, signalling its intent to further open its borders to foreign nationals, leading travel portal Travel and Tour World reported.
Xishuangbanna is an autonomous prefecture in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, bordering Myanmar and Laos. It’s known for Dai culture, distinctive temples and tropical rainforests.
An emerging tourism hotspot in China, prefectural capital, Jinghong, offers palm-lined streets, and the ‘Tropical Flower and Plants Garden’ with a large number of fruit trees and blossoms. The city’s Mengle Buddhist Temple is a vast Dai religious complex completed in 2007.
An employee from Kanghui Travel Agency, which is based in Xishuangbanna, was quoted by Global Times as saying that the hospitality industry in the prefecture is gearing up to welcome Asean tourists after learning about the development.
The number of inbound tourists has been growing rapidly since the beginning of 2025 with a noticeable increase in tourists from the Southeast Asian region, said the employee. He noted that “the effects of the new visa-free policy may not be immediately apparent, but are expected to be positive”.
“This policy is an important measure to expand China’s opening-up in a structured manner and bolster Yunnan’s role as a regional hub for South and Southeast Asia,” said an official from the National Immigration Administration, regarding the initiative.
“This initiative will boost tourism in Southwest China, facilitate exchanges between people from China and other countries, and strengthen China-Asean strategic cooperation.”
Cambodia’s outbound tourism number grew by 1.8 percent in the first 11 months of 2024, compared to the same period in the previous year.
However, it has shown a 10.3 percent decline when compared to the 2019 numbers, hinting that the pandemic had adversely affected the Kingdom’s, comparatively small, outbound tourism sector.
