At international airports in major Chinese cities, families await returnees at exit gates for the first time since the early days of the pandemic – a stark change from protocols It has been a long-standing tradition of Covid that all arrivals are handled by workers wearing protective gear and taken to a mandatory hotel quarantine for days or weeks.
A Beijing resident surnamed Yu took her young son to Beijing’s Capital International Airport to wait for her husband’s return home after nearly a year working in Spain.
“(Previously) we weren’t able to pick him up here today because he will have to quarantine before returning home. We’re glad we were able to see him today,” Yu said before her husband. go out. of those who come to take their sons into their arms.
In Hong Kong, where most border checkpoints with mainland China have been closed since the early days of the pandemic, people wait to pick up their loved ones at the closed Lok Ma Chau station. earlier, as the mainland also eased border controls with the city.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said newlywed Felicia Feng in Hong Kong, who hasn’t seen her husband since they got married in the mainland a few months earlier.
“This is his first time coming to Hong Kong… I have a full list of cuisines and places we want to go,” she said, adding that even though her hometown is in China, mainland is not far from Hong Kong, but she has also been restricted on how often she can visit family during the pandemic.
“This caused a lot of hardship in my life, but now it seems like things are starting to get better,” she said.
Hong Kong authorities say up to 60,000 people per day will be allowed to cross the border between the city and mainland China in both directions, and on Sunday tens of thousands of people did just that, it added.
Passengers are seen in the arrivals area of international flights at Capital International Airport in Beijing on January 8, 2023.
Pictures of Noel Celis/AFP/Getty
Three years of easy restriction
The easing of China’s tight border controls, both with Hong Kong and internationally, marks a far-reaching step forward for the country as it quickly lifts years of draconian curbs on with the COVID-19 pandemic.
For nearly three years, strict border controls have barricaded China from the rest of the world and placed a heavy burden on families and businesses with ties in the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and other countries. outside.
As other countries lifted Covid travel restrictions over the past year, entering China remains a harsh and costly challenge for overseas Chinese nationals hoping to return home and Other travelers are eligible for entry, required to be isolated, tested multiple times for Covid, and scrambled for seats on limited flights. flights.
But the policy change both streamlines the entry process for eligible travelers and helps authorities begin processing passport applications from Chinese nationals to travel outside of China. countries, which are restricted to discourage recreational tourism.
The rule change, announced late last month, has received great interest in China, with bookings for overseas travel during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, starting on the 21st. January this year, up 540% from a year ago, according to data from Chinese travel platform Trip.com Group.
Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, told CNN on Monday: “A lot of people are very interested in taking their family on vacation after three years of lockdown,” Jane Sun, CEO of the company. Trip.com Group, told CNN Monday, also pointing to the upcoming weeklong vacation as another driver.
Meanwhile, China’s tourism industry is bracing for the expected tourism recovery, Sun said.
“We expect that in the first quarter or two (in 2023), it will take some time for airlines and hotels to re-hire staff and build infrastructure. In the second half of this year , hopefully the infrastructure will get back to normal,” she said.
Travelers wait to collect their luggage at the baggage claim area at Shanghai Pudong International Airport as China lifts quarantine requirements for international arrivals on January 8, 2023 in Shanghai, China.
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Restrictions imposed by other countries
Another Beijing resident named He on Sunday expressed relief at the ease of commuting as he prepared to bring his family to Macao for the holidays ahead of the Lunar New Year.
Compared to last summer, when he also left China, it was much simpler to find tickets and prepare travel documents, He said.
“Now it’s faster. You just buy a ticket, renew (the travel permit) and go… and then you can start your own life the same day you land,” he said.
But others, like Hong Kong resident Anthony Chan, traveled to the mainland for a cousin’s wedding, lamenting the lost time seeing loved ones and being able to live a normal life. often.
The 18-year-old said he hasn’t been able to see his extended family across the border for about three years amid other restrictions on daily life due to pandemic control measures.
“The (maintained) policy that has harmed our lives over the past few years… is not (is) that we are afraid of this Covid. It is that we are afraid of this policy,” he said.
Jadyn Sham, Kathleen Magramo and Cheng Cheng contributed reporting.
