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From left: West Lake in Hangzhou, Lujiazui finance and trade zone in Shanghai and Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in Nanjing

Traveling to Shanghai and other Yangtze River Delta cities may get easier for some tourists in the near future.

Shanghai Tourism Administration authorities announced last week that the city has proposed a new local visa policy to the central government.

The proposed policy will extend transit-visa stays in Shanghai from the current 48 hours to a longer period of time, said the Shanghai Daily.

The report didn’t specify how many visa-free hours a transit tourist would be allowed under the new policy.

Nor did it mention a possible approval date.

The new policy might allow transit travelers to travel further afield from Shanghai during their “transit” stays.

Local tourism authorities are appealing to Beijing to spread the policy to the entire Yangtze River Delta.

The idea behind the visa extensions is to “boost tourism and make the area more attractive to foreign travelers,” said Dao Shuming (道书明), the tourism administration director. “Integration of traffic connections in the Yangtze River Delta Region is improving quickly.

“In near future, it will take less than three hours to travel between any two cities in the area.”

A “travel ecosystem” in the Yangtze River Delta will be built as an affiliated service to the proposed policy.

The travel system will provide different service packages, including sightseeing, studying and entertainment services, with Shanghai, Nanjing (capital of Jiangsu Province) and Hangzhou (capital of Zhejiang Province) as the three core cities.

Currently, Shanghai allows 48-hour, visa-free stays to transit travelers from a number of countries — instead of the 24 hours allowed in most major Chinese cities.

According to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States, the special policy is offered to citizens from the following countries: Republic of Korea, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland.

Travelers from those countries who can present valid passports and proper travel documentation can land at Pudong International Airport or Hongqiao Airport without an entry visa.

It is yet to be announced which nationalities the proposed policy will benefit.

Source: CNN Go

France and Italy have called for the European Union’s Schengen agreement on visa-free travel to be reformed after a dispute between the two countries over immigration from north Africa.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held talks in Rome yesterday to defuse tensions over Italy’s decision to grant temporary residence permits to 20,000 Tunisian migrants who have arrived in Italy since the uprising in the country in January.

French authorities provoked Italy’s ire last week by blocking a train carrying about 60 Tunisians from crossing the Italy-France border, saying only those who proved they could support themselves financially would be granted entry.

“We want Schengen to survive, but to survive Schengen must be reformed,” Mr Sarkozy said yesterday. “We believe in free circulation but we believe in a state of law and a certain number of rules.”

The Schengen agreement allows for visa-free travel between 25 continental European states, including Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, although national authorities retain some discretion to deny entry to non-EU citizens.

Mr Berlusconi said neither country wished to abandon the treaty but that “in exceptional circumstances, we believe there must be changes”. Relations between France and Italy, already strained by divisions over the intervention in Libya, have been damaged by the stand-off over north African immigration. Although the European Commission said France did not breach Schengen rules by temporarily closing the border near the southeastern town of Menton, Italy lodged a formal complaint over the decision.

The dispute is set against a fraught political background in France, where the rise of the far-right Front National has made immigration a major battleground.

Mr Berlusconi has also come under domestic pressure on immigration from his coalition allies in the Northern League, who failed in their initial bid to deport Tunisian migrants who arrived by boat at the island of Lampedusa. Rome maintains it has not received enough support from European neighbours in coping with the flow of migrants from north Africa.

Officials in Paris and Rome have been working on proposals to widen a state’s right to temporarily suspend its Schengen commitments, although the Élysée Palace at the weekend backtracked on its use of the term “suspension”. “France does not want to suspend Schengen,” Mr Sarkozy’s adviser, Henri Guaino, said on Sunday, but rather to widen the clauses allowing for border controls to be reimposed “in particular circumstances”.

Mr Berlusconi said the two leaders had jointly written to European Commission president José Manuel Barroso asking him to look into possible reforms of the Schengen deal. They had also urged for “greater collaboration” between EU states on migration flows. “Southern European states should not be left alone to deal with mass immigration,” Mr Berlusconi added.

The two leaders agreed to ask the Tunisian government to co-operate more closely with them in dissuading migrants from travelling to Europe.

Source: Irish Times

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The ‘visa on arrival’ scheme, launched early last year to increase foreign tourist inflows, has been extended to citizens of six more countries from January this year.

The new countries added to the list of beneficiaries of this scheme are Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar, said a government statement, adding between January and March 2905 visas were issued under this scheme.

The maximum number of visas under this scheme was issued at Delhi airport (1512), followed by Mumbai (759), Chennai (474) and Kolkata (160), the statement said.

According to a different release, the ‘Incredible India’ campaign has led to a surge in the number of foreign tourists visiting the country with more than 5 lakh visitors coming to India in March this year.

Source: Economic Times

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The United Kingdom government has decided not to implement  visa requirements for St Lucian nationals travelling there as tourists or family visitors for less than six months.

However, nationals wishing to live, work, marry or study in the United Kingdom will continue to require a visa to do so.

The British High Commissioner said the St Lucia government has worked closely with authorities in the UK to address the various areas of concern relating to migration.

The decision, which follows a six-month UK Visa Test, was recently handed down to Prime Minister Stephenson King and the Minister for Home Affairs and National Security Senator Guy Mayers by the British High Commissioner to Barbados and the OECS, Paul Brummell.

Prime Minister King said the decision indicates confidence by the governments of St Lucia and the UK in each other’s abilities to address concerns amicably.

“We have received and accepted with much delight the decision of the British government. As a responsible government we have given further commitment to the authorities in the UK that we will continue our dialogue and consultation in ensuring that what we have achieved to date will be maintained without question, without any blemish or without any form of interference one way or the other,” he said.

Minister Mayers urged St Lucians not to engage in any activity that would cause the UK government to have any concerns about people from this Caribbean island visiting that country.

The British High Commissioner said the St Lucia government has worked closely with authorities in the UK to address the various areas of concern relating to migration.

“I really would like to thank Prime Minister King, Senator Mayers and all organs within the government of St Lucia that we had to work with for excellent cooperation over the six-month period. We found that the discussions were very positive and St Lucian authorities were very receptive to our ideas; the existing immigration arrangements continue,” he said.

The Home Affairs and National Security Minister said both governments wanted to see continued progress in certain areas where mitigation actions were not completed.

He said those include the full recall of all handwritten passports by 2012, clearing backlog of issued birth certificates by the end of this month, the ratification of the United Nations Convention against corruption, and continued publicity to effectively promote legal migration to the UK and the consequences of non-compliance.

The British High Commission Office in Barbados will continue to monitor St Lucia`s progress regarding the immigrations issues.

Should the risks to the UK not reduce, or if they increase, authorities in the United Kingdom say they may have to reconsider the visa requirement.

Source: Caribbean 360

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Two more countries agreed to grant travel facilitation measures for Taiwanese, bringing the number of countries where holders of a Republic of China (ROC) passport can enjoy visa-free travel or visa on arrival privileges to 99,  (馬英九) announced yesterday.

President Ma Ying-jeou

Holders of ROC passports will soon be allowed to enter Australia with electronic visas and to Montenegro without a visa, Ma said at the opening ceremony of an exhibition of ROC diplomatic archives held to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Although the implementation has yet to be decided, related negotiations have been completed. The goal for Taiwan to be included in 100 countries and areas granting us visa-free privileges in this year will soon be achieved,” Ma said.

The ministry dates back to the Zongli Geguo Shiwu Yamen, literally meaning Office in Charge of Affairs of All Nations, which was the name of the government office of imperial China during the Qing Dynasty.

In his speech, Ma recognized the ministry’s efforts to resolve the diplomatic dispute with the Philippines over its deportation of 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China on Feb. 2.

“The two sides have reached an agreement. We received a -formal letter from the Philippines saying it would take punitive actions against officials involved in wrongdoing. They demonstrated concrete actions and we received their sincere apology,” Ma sad.

Ma said the relationships between Taiwan and the Philippines was not damaged because of the deportation case, but was mended and even enhanced because the two sides have agreed to negotiate a deal on mutual judicial assistance and explore the feasibility of an economic cooperation agreement.

The way the government handled the case showcased the possibility that the country can enhance its international space under the principle of “flexible diplomacy,” Ma said.

Source: Taipei Times

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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed Thursday that his country and the United States abolish visas between them. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is visiting Moscow, responded that it was a good idea, according to Russia’s state-run news agency.

Russia Prime Minister Vladamir Putin

“If your reaction to my proposal is positive, then your opinion as one of the leaders of the current U.S. administration who is also influential in Congress would be very important to us,” Putin was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying to Biden.

Most analysts have said that the implementation of a visa-free relationship between the United States and Russia would be a complicated and protracted process. Russia and the European Union negotiations for such a relationship have been ongoing since 2002. Top EU officials, while speaking in favor of the measure, have said that full abolishment of visas won’t happen in the near future.

“If Russia and the United States agree on visa-free travel before Russia and the European Union make a similar decision, that would be an historic step,” Putin told Biden.

“Such a step would shatter old stereotypes between Russia and USA. (By doing that) we would turn an important page referring to our past, and start (our relations) from scratch,” Putin said.

Russians presently enjoy visa-free or simplified visa arrangements with more than 90 countries.

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Tourists will soon be able to visit any member countries of the East African Community (EAC) using one VISA.

Speaking to The New Times, yesterday, Abdul Karim Harelimana, a member of the East African Legislative Assembly Committee on Tourism, said the negotiations for adopting the visa are ongoing.

“Immigration officials from EAC are discussing modalities of putting the visa in place and they are yet to hand in the report to the Secretary General,” he added.

Harelimana explained that they are negotiating how to share revenues as some countries have been getting larger shares from visa fees.

He stated that the negotiations are underway on how the visa will look like, especially now that some countries use electronic methods at entry points.

“One single visa will facilitate a substantial increase in tourism traffic to the EAC region,” he noted.

The report from the immigration officials will then be transmitted to the Council of Ministers who will forward it to the summit of the EAC Heads of State for signing, before it becomes operational.

Michael Mutisya Joshua, the Executive Director of RMS Ltd – Travel Partner, a tour company, said that it will make travels within the region very easy and contribute to increasing domestic travel.

“The common tourist visa will give opportunity to countries in the EAC to develop their tourism industry,” he said.

Mutisya added that tourists visiting the region, often spend many hours clearing at borders from one country to another because they had a different visa for each country on their passports.

The move for EAC to have one single tourist visa followed an appeal by tourism boards of partner states in 2006 requesting for a common visa to accelerate promotion of the region as a single tourist destination.

Source: All Africa

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Italy and Sweden expressed support on Turkish nationals’ visa-free travel to European states, TRT English reported.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini aid they will do everything to change this unacceptable attitude, while his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt said if Europe shuts its doors to new members, it will be preventing many possibilities in the future.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey will continue to be persistent on visa exemption for Turkish citizens.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held separate meetings with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bild and Italian Foreign minister Franco Frattini in İstanbul to discuss the situation in Libya and Turkey-European Union relations.

The three ministers then met at the lunch, after which they held a news conference. Visa-exemption for Turkish nationals was taken up in detail.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said “We will continue our persistence on the issue. Principally, Turkey doesn’t expect an attitude different from the one shown to any other country. We ask for the same standards which were applied to other countries. We expect this understanding from the European Union as a whole. As we hope, with the help of our friends in the Union, there won’t be any more obstructions in Turkey-EU relations.”

Guest Ministers also expressed uneasiness over the same issue.

Italia’s top diplomat Franco Frattini said “I am disappointed over the double standard applied by European authorities. We see that Europe begins to act unwillingly when it is Turkey’s tun on the cisa exemption. We will make our best to prevent this unacceptable attitude.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Europe will be closing its doors to future possibilities if it closes its doors to new members.

On creating a no-fly zone over Libya, the ministers agreed that Libyan people should be listened to first and imposing solutions should be avoided.

Source: Trend

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The British government made tourism a key part of its economic recovery on Friday, looking to dispel what it called a myth that Britain is a wet, cloudy country offering poor value.

The sun sets behind Britain's House of Commons and Big Ben in central London

It also set out its plans to remove other bugbears of visitors by making it easier to obtain entry visas, reducing the amount of time spent at passport controls and speeding up airport check-in times.

“You can do most things in Britain for 11 to 12 months of the year. Our weather is substantially better than many people think,” tourism minister John Penrose said at the launch of its tourism policy.

“The government sees it (tourism) as a key element in our plans to grow the economy and get Britain back on its feet.”

The 10-month old Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition believes Britain’s tourism industry could help the economy at a time of public spending cuts, drawing on the opportunities offered by high-profile celebrations including Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in April and next year’s Olympics.

Tourism is currently Britain’s fifth-biggest industry, worth about 90 billion pounds to the economy.

As part of its strategy, the government will push to make entry visa applications quicker, simpler and more convenient, without compromising national security. It will also share visa centres with other friendly nations, reducing the vast distances some people have to travel in larger developing countries.

It also wants to increase the number of online applications from 35 percent to more than 90 percent by the end of 2012.

The government’s blueprint also calls on airlines and airport operators to work on reducing the need for long check-in times, while it will introduce more e-Passport gates at entry ports to speed up the passport control process.

Officials will discuss with airlines, airport operators, passenger groups and regulators on how to collect and publish data on transit times. The UK Border Agency will publish details of its performance against national targets.

The government hopes the measures will help generate four million extra overseas visitors during the next four years, bringing in an extra two billion pounds worth of visitor spend.

It also wants to entice Britons to stay at home for their holidays, and will consult on lengthening the tourism season by moving the May 1 Bank Holiday, or Labour Day, to earlier or later in the year, potentially drawing opposition from unions.

Source: Reuters

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Visa-free travel between Russia and the EU will top the agenda of  Thursday’s meeting  in Brussels between members of the Russian government and representatives of the  European Commission.

Speaking in Kaliningrad on Wednesday PM Vladimir Putin said much attention would be paid to lifting visa restrictions between Russia’s westernmost exclave and the neighboring EU countries.

Poland has already given a nod to the idea and Russia is currently discussing the matter with other European nations.

Source: The Voice of Russia

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