The Chinese Embassy in Australia has announced that citizens holding ordinary passports of Australia who are travelling to China for business, tourism, family visits, transit and exchange purposes can obtain visa-free entry of 30 days.

The new condition came into effect on 30 November, 2024, and will remain as part of a trail until the end of 2025.

Business travel between Australia and China is steadily growing – 19 per cent growth from July to September 2024 – with airline capacity approaching pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels.

“This move means Australian businesses will be able to travel more seamlessly, cost effectively and for longer periods, thanks to growing demand of corporate and personal travel, and the cutting of red tape,” says Flight Centre Corporate global COO Melissa Elf.

“China’s appetite for connectivity to Australia and its willingness to invest in our trade relationship is a clear indicator of its critical importance on both sides, and it is great news for growing travel demand that Flight Centre Corporate continues to see.

“We are leaps and bounds ahead of what the travel experience between Australia and China was 18 months ago – it was only in March 2023 that borders were fully reopened between our two countries following the pandemic.

“We’d expect to see corporates adding on extra time to their trips, given this new availability to do so, as they increasingly take up the ‘bleisure’ trend and add holidays to the start or end of a work trip.”