"Hainan will offer a 30-day visa-free period for visitors from 59 countries starting May 1, 2018. The policy is expected to dramatically increase the number of international tourists travelling to Hainan, and help it eventually become 'Asia’s Hawaii'. Australia is one of 59 countries listed. Enjoy :)
Previous similar post suggests this is a deal, but mods please feel free to move to forums if required.
why free tibet?
Because OzBers won't pay. ;)
wait, people pay to go to < china.
I am sure it cost alot more for Chinese to come to AU for holiday.
visit china before china visits you…
Too late
Really got me thinking about Sydney…
The visa-on-arrival only cost about $35 AUD when I visited Haikou, Hainan last month so you may want to update the title.
It's also worth adding that Hainan isn't worth visiting unless huge Western-style resorts interest you.
Title updated. Many thanks :)
Is that true for the rest of China? Arrival by plane?
How much for a visa at HK-Shenzhen border?
Nope, it's a tourism initiative run by Hainanese government and only applies to that province.
You'll have to organise your visa before you leave if you arrive anywhere else in China
Thanks. I haven't been to Hainan, but I'm very confident that I haven't missed much!
@Frozensage: yeah, but then the joke wouldn't have worked!
Technically it originated from the Hainese immigrants to Singapore.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainanese_chicken_rice
The only other circumstance you're allowed into China without a visa is while you're in transit, and for just 72 hours.
http://au.china-embassy.org/eng/ls/vfc/t1038742.htm
It's limited to the airports on that list (although it's 5 years old now, maybe there are more in the scheme). I've done it a few times in Guangzhou when flying to Europe with China Southern.
Some regions are 144 hours, including Beijing.
So we should all avoid Western countries?
Pretty much.
Especially if they only have big Chinese style hotels.
If I was a first time visitor to China I would definitely include other must go to cities , therefore as soon as you leave Hainan you would have to pay the visa fee anyway. Whilst you do save $35 this is only a deal if you were intending to go to Hainan specifically.
I was looking at going to Hainan (specifically Sanya).. But the online info was so confusing I decided to just go Macau.
Pity.. Because the Ritz Carlton is only a few hundred but is over $1k in Macau.
Yeah, there's a lot of misinformation on the internet about Hainan's visa status. It took a phone call to Hainan Airlines to confirm that I was able to apply for a visa once I arrived in Hainan.
Well Macau and Hainan are two totally different cities.
Hainan boasts its resorts with private beaches and beautiful ocean view. Other than that there's not too much to do.
Macau is the "Vegas of the Asia", hence the resorts are mostly shopping+gaming focus. They probably still have pools but not in the same scale as Hainan.
*I grew up in Macau and just recently visit Hainan (stayed in Sofitel).
I've been to Macau and found it super boring.
The Mrs wants a relaxing trip from our hectic HongKong trip.. So most of the stay will be in the hotel.
Hence why we chose the Banyan Tree.. Mostly due to the Lazy river pool and the Wave pool.
You didn't go to Macau tho, you've been to Banyan Tree :/
Would be good to springboard to other parts of China from a cheap Hainan Airlines flight. I assume this free visa allows travel to all of China, as the VOA did?
It would be great if it does allow visa-free travel to other areas of China. Flights to Guangzhou from Haikou are cheap and it's an awesome place to visit.
Guangzhou? Eek!
Have you been to GZ? What's wrong with it?
Plenty of times. The colonial building on the island are ok, but Beijing is amazing, Shanghai ok and lots of smaller places are great. GZ isn't somewhere I'd recommend unless you are of Cantonese extraction and want to visit the home of your culture.
I have to disagree with you there. As a young, white, single guy, GZ is one of the best cities I've visited and was far better than Beijing (which is grossly overrated). It definitely would depend on your demographic and preferences though.
Thanks for mentioning you were single. There wasn't enough information with the white, young and guy.
Lol. A city of 25mil ppl…. most likely it has plenty of good stuff and bad stuff.
@Comfortably Numb: I travel to China regularly and GZ is my favourite city. Although this Visa has travel restrictions as far as I’m aware.
@tightwad: I'm with you.
GZ is good to visit for shopping on the way home. But it's mostly just a cookie cutter concrete jungle. But thern maybe that's what some people like. But I reckon I could spend a month in Beijing and not get bored.
if you're rellies are Cantonese, then you'll goto Guilin! (Or Yangshuo) The Cantonese have an old saying along the lines of Guilin is the most beautiful place in the world…..Yangshuo is even more beautiful then Guilin
That was my point above.
I doubt mist Cantonese had even heard about Yangshuo until fairly recently. It used to be for Weatern backpackers. Chinese tourists used o stay in Guilin.
I am a gweilo and have visited both Hainan and Guangzhou, the latter multiple times. Apart from Shamian island in GZ neither are particularly interesting to visit. Places like HK have so much more to offer than either.
HK? Oh hell no.
The new district with all those fancy futuristic architecture and shopping malls was really impressive to me especially at night time.
This place
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@23.1150723,113.3245168,3a,75…
Sydney Swan. Agree 100%
so, in order to save $35 visa fee,buy another unwanted destination air ticket first, and waste a day in transition..nah.. no deal.
Its more than that. This special type of Visa (whether $35 or free) is only available if you enter via Hainan Island. A normal Chinese Visa requires 1-2 weeks of processing, $130ish for a single entry, a 5 page form to be filled out (this is similar whether Tourist or Business), invite letters, reservations, and more.
So if you can stopover in Hainan and then get another flight to Mainland, it might actually save you a bit of money and lot of effort. Personally I have a multi entry Visa for work, but I can see the appeal for some as the Visa process is really annoying for China.
Its more the convenience. I wasted two half days getting a visa in Sydney, the first time I went (landed in Changsha). The second time visa on arrival policy in Hainan was one of the main motivators to fly there.
You are not allowed out of the region without a proper national Visa.
And they do know since it is law for foreigners to register their location for every night (hotels catering to foreigners take your passport and do this, otherwise you have to report to police/government station).
They know a lot from phones and wifi login too.
Plus it's an island, so you can't just wander out.
”After obtaining a Visa on Arrival in Haikou, travelers can visit other cities, then leave from any cities at randomly in mainland China”
as far as I know there are some restrictions, such as you cannot go other parts of China, you need to join a tour.
Did you read the link? They removed the requirement to join a tour
you are right about this, but you are still required to be invited by a tour company which I dont know what would be involved. May be more troublesome than getting a formal visa.
Where does it say that? I think you're conflating this with the "letter of invitation" which is easily acquired by booking a hotel and is seldom required (if ever).
No, it doesn't. You can go as a individual with this new visa policy.
Er that's not true at all, China is not Russia…
Source: been twice, got visa both times in Sydney
From Sydney, not VOA. Different kettle of fish.
What's not true Ippy?
Breast milk?
Anyone else thought of hinanese chicken when they saw this post or is it just me?
I think of that dish often, don't need reminding. Had a good plate at Ipoh Club @ Chatswood the other day. Yum!
Hainanese chicken that doesn't exist in Hainan…much like Singapore noodle that doesn't exist in Singapore, or fortune cookies that don't exist in China.
It's called Wen Chang Chicken in Hainan and not as sophisticated as the SEA descendants.
For example, if you go to this large food centre in Haikou, you can order it, but you have to order rice separately. The meat was fatty compared with SEA versions.
Or prawn crackers….
Keropok/krupuk/etc are common in SEA.
That was my point. Yet, they are served in Chinese restaurants as if they were from China.
@tightwad: Hahahaha, you'd starve if you expect all dishes in Chinese restaurants to be originally from China. The fact is that after WWII the wave of Chinese immigrants to Western countries was mostly overseas Chinese as mainland Chinese were not allowed to leave. Those Chinese had taken on many influences in their new homelands. And the traditional dishes were modified and even improved in many ways. Besides, being shrewd restaurateurs, operaors were not above throwing in other dishes to please customers. Nowadays it's all a mashup. And it's a similar story for many other cuisines, they have borrowed left and right.
In the case of keropok, this was often used as a garnish on dishes in SEA, one I remember was roast chicken which was usually one course in a 10 course wedding dinner.
And in fact for a long time most Chinese restaurants here served southern Chinese cuisine. It's only in recent times that cuisines from other Chinese regions have become more visible.
There is an almost infinite number of dishes from China. 1.3b people don't eat the same food.
@tightwad: Yes and the variety has been restricted by the geographic origin of the restaurateurs that we have. People don't get up one day and say I think I will start selling Hebei food if you've never had any connection with that province. The restaurants we have reflect the people who have come here.
@laser: An Australian Chinese friend recalled an occasion decades ago when he was lunching with his family. He'd tasked his son to ask the kitchen for Cantonese blood pudding. An Aussie overheard this and attracted the attention of the son. "What did you say your dad's name was, Dracula?"
Not true in Melbourne. We've got Cantonese, Pekinese (sic), Shanghai-ese, Sichuanese, Xingxiang(ese!), Shaangxi, Lanzhou, Tibetan, Hakka, Chiuchow, Qiongching, Mongolian, Fijian, 'Manchurian' (NE), Hong Kong, Macau and so on.
Maybe in the culturally barren NSW and Queensland you've only got dimsims and sweet and sour to choose from. 😂
@tightwad: You're too young to remember the barren days then.
Anyway if Chinese from Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia want to eat keropok who's to deny them. It's what they've been used to eating and it's food cooked by Chinese people. :P
I am young and free.
I have no problems with 'fusion' food. I prefer authentic, traditional food.
PS No hard feelings? I was just having a bit of fun. Always appriciate your contributions.
Love, tightwad xxx 😀
@tightwad: I just think trying to draw hard and fast lines about what is and what isn't Chinese food will get you tied up in knots. People will agree that bangers and mash aren't Chinese food, nor is surströmming. It's when you get to the boundaries where cultures meet that it gets less certain. Cultures borrow and there is no static list of "authentic" food. Tempura the Japanese got from the Portuguese, and the Macanese got nata from them too. With time innovations get considered "native". A long time ago, there were no potatoes, tomatoes or chillies in Asian food.
xxx
You know in Hainan, the dish is just called "Chicken".
Sure it's not called -ese chicken?
Hainan chicken is just a name. It's actually from Singapore/Malaysia depending who you talk to
No Hainanese chicken rice in Hainan.
it is a dish adapted from early Chinese immigrants originally from Hainan province in southern China.
It is considered one of the national dishes of Singapore.
—-from Wikipedia.
I will correct you there. I was in Sanya and had Hainan chicken rice. At a coconut chicken hotpot place. It was all Chinese, no English menu or westerners though.
It originated from the Wen Chang district in Hainan and was taken to SEA by emigrants.
The question is ginger and spring onion sauce or orange chilli sauce 🤤
Usually the question is Chickenbreast or Chickenleg. :)
Into breasts more. But can't say no to nice long legs.
😧
Thats so 2017, mate, there have been Hainan Airlines deals on Ozb since early 2017, and I have been on two of them already. Though must admit, the first time a Hainan airlines deal came up, I had the same thought. Also the first time I had Hainan Chicken rice was in Sanya, Hainan. I found it pretty bland though and have never had it again.
Finally I can visit the country that has given me everything I have in my home.
The Chinese made condom didn't work as advertised. So, in a way, yes, the children as well.
I welcome the removal of the fee, but surely taking $35 off your total cost of a holiday would not "dramatically increase the number of international tourists".
In Asia, small discounts seem to move markets.
The current VoA system only provides a visa for a maximum of 15 days if arriving in Haikou, so the 30 day visa-free period is an added benefit. Plus not having to apply for a visa in Australia saves the hassle of visiting a Chinese consulate (which aren't exactl paragons of good governance).
You don't need to visit a Chinese Consulate for a visa as far as I know. They have a agency handling all that, and it was quite hassle free the two times I dealt with them.
And with this new visa policy, it's possible to extend your visa and go to other parts of the Country if you apply while being there.
35/(216+35)* 100 = 14%
And so is a 14% reduction in the price.
Bargain.
nothings free in china… starting with toilet paper.
Hmmm, this or Free Tibet?