Tourists enjoy the Palace Museum on Sunday. Beijing is considering allowing tourists a 72-hour window to explore the capital without a visa. [Photo / China Daily ]

It is reported that Beijing will soon launch a new policy to allow 72-hour non-visa entry for foreigners in an effort to ease their travel.

Beijing Police Chief Fu Zhenghua confirmed the news and said the move would represent a crucial sign that Beijing is open to the world.

The news came amid heated speculation surrounding Beijing's newly launched police crackdown against illegal foreign residents. Beijing police had just announced on Thursday that the recent crackdown had not changed the city's friendly attitude toward foreigners.

According to China Daily, Lin Song at the public security bureau's exit-entry administration echoed that view on Sunday. "It's expected that the project will attract more tourists from abroad."

Details of the new policy were not announced. However, experts said the policy is expected to be similar to ones already being run in Shanghai (48 hours) and South China's Hainan province (21 days for tour groups).

"Shanghai and neighboring cities, such as Hangzhou and Wuxi, have benefited greatly (since Shanghai introduced a visa waiver for transit passengers), as it means foreign tourists can travel during a 48-hour stay," said Jiang Yiyi, director of the China Tourism Academy's international tourism development institute.

The statistics showed that there are about 200,000 foreigners staying in Beijing with legal permits and since 2004, 721 qualified have received a permanent residency permit issued by the Beijing police to stay in China as foreign nationals.

"With so many foreign people transiting in Beijing, the visa waiver program will allow many of them to tour around the ancient city."

Jiang said she believes there is little possibility that the visa waiver would result in an increase of illegal residents among foreign tourists.

What is more important, she said, is to stimulate China's inbound tourism.

"It's vital that cities come up with reforms to boost inbound tourism," she said. "Other cities can learn from the experiences as well."

Wei Xiang, a professor of tourism management at Beijing International Studies University, said besides the boost to the tourism industry, the visa project will step up China's diplomacy and foreign trade with countries in the long run as well.

"The policy will bring more benefits than we can imagine," he said.

"The scrutiny that the city is undergoing (the 100-day crackdown) will make sure there is better security and public order in the city," Fu said.

(China Daily contributed to this story)

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