Mr. Alexandre, a Portuguese tourist, arrived at the border checkpoint in Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport just after midnight on October 15. He is the first arrival in Beijing under China's new trial policy that grants visa-free entry to ordinary passport holders from Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Slovenia from October 15, 2024 to December 31, 2025, with the aim of further boosting people-to-people exchanges with other countries. 

According to the Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, more than 30 eligible tourists from the aforementioned four countries have entered visa-free between early hours to 17:00 on October 15.

Since 2023, China has implemented a unilateral visa-free policy on a trial basis for ordinary passport holders from 15 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Australia, and Poland. As of October 14, Beijing's entry points have recorded 1.759 million foreign arrivals in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 154 percent. Among them, 320,000 were visa-free visitors from the above 15 countries.

(Source: Beijing Daily App)