(Yicai) Nov. 30 -- Sri Lanka announced visa-free entry for Chinese passport holders yesterday, following similar moves by Thailand and Malaysia. Analysts said it remains to be seen whether this will offer a real boost for international flights and tourism.

Citizens of China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan can now enjoy visa exemption for a visit to Sri Lanka of up to 30 days, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in China said on its website yesterday. The policy will be in place until March 31 next year. 

Malaysia announced visa-free entry for Chinese tourists on Nov. 26 and searches for flights to the country on Chinese online travel platform Tongcheng Tourism Network Technology have soared since then.

Thailand began its visa exemption for China on Sept. 25, but Chinese tourists have been less eager to visit following incidents in the country this year, including a shooting at a Bangkok mall in October in which a Chinese national was killed. As a result, some airlines have cancelled flights between China and Thailand that had only recently resumed.

“Bookings for air tickets to countries that have announced visa-free entry for China have not actually surged because now is a low season for travel,” a manager at a Chinese carrier said, predicting that a full recovery of international fights will not happen until next year.

The number of flights between the Chinese mainland and Malaysia was over 1,700 from Nov. 1 to 28, making up 60 percent of that in the same period of 2019, per statistics from flight information provider Umetrip. Flights between China and Thailand had been expected to reach 5,333 next month, but 217 of them have been cancelled, and 24 of 6,179 flights scheduled for January have also been called off.

Editor: Tom Litting