It was found that the number of foreign tourists스포츠토토 visiting China in the first half of this year was only 30% of the level before the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the difficulty in issuing Chinese visas and making flight reservations, the Chinese authorities’ control of foreign companies and enforcement of the strengthened anti-espionage law are cited as reasons why foreigners are reluctant to travel to China.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post ( SCMP ) reported on the 3rd that the number of foreigners who visited China in the first half of the year was only 8.44 million, a 70% decrease compared to 31 million in 2019. The background was analyzed to include the aftereffects of three years of high-intensity blockade during the coronavirus pandemic, the spread of negative images of China, and loss of business trust.
When contacted by the newspaper, an official from Australian travel agency Intrepid said, “The number of people who booked a trip to China was 130, a decrease of nearly 90% compared to 2019 when there were over 1,000.” Australia was in conflict with China when it claimed that COVID-19 originated in China and banned the use of products from Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei. CYTS Tours, a Chinese travel agency based in San Francisco, USA, sold less than 10 Chinese tour products over the past three months. Before COVID-19, there were over 300 direct flights between the U.S. and China per week, but now there are only about 10.
Maximilian Butek, director of the German Chamber of Commerce in China, said that before the pandemic, German business delegations visited China about 50 times a year, but almost none this year.
Since last July, China has been enforcing an amendment to the Anti-Espionage Act that regards various documents and data related to national security as state secrets. Researchers, international students, and foreign expatriates who routinely handle China-related data are more likely to be caught up in espionage cases. In line with the implementation of the revised Anti-Espionage Act, the U.S. State Department recommended refraining from traveling to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, saying, “The Chinese government is arbitrarily enforcing the law without fair and transparent procedures.” The Korean Embassy in China also issued a safety notice asking for special caution, saying, “Unexpected damage may occur due to differences in systems and concepts from those of Korea.”
Although the Chinese government is emphasizing opening up to the outside world and attracting foreign investment to revive the stagnant economy, the actual policy is going in the opposite direction. Chinese authorities raided the offices of global consulting companies, confiscated goods and investigated employees, while Chinese market research firm Wind blocked various economic information that had been disclosed to foreign organizations and companies. Since President Xi Jinping came to power, China has implemented data security laws and network security laws under the pretext of protecting national security.