China’s southern island of Hainan, already marketed as the country’s most open tourism and business hub, unveiled another turbo-charged round of entry-facilitation measures on 14 December. In a television report carried by state broadcaster CCTV, provincial officials confirmed that, in the run-up to the planned 18 December “customs closure” that will transform the entire island into a duty-free Free Trade Port, visa-free entry has now been extended to nationals of 86 countries – up from the long-standing list of 59. The expansion covers traditional tourism markets such as Australia, the United States and Germany, but also newer source markets in the Middle East and South America. Eligible travellers can enter for up to 30 days for tourism, business, medical treatment, exhibitions and family visits.
In parallel, Hainan airports now boast 85 international routes, giving the island more nonstop links than any other secondary hub on the Chinese mainland. Border-inspection authorities at Sanya Phoenix and Haikou Meilan airports showcased newly installed e-gate corridors, 55 additional biometric desks and a self-developed passenger-flow monitoring system that have already cut average clearance times to 15 minutes. A dedicated 144-hour visa-free transit counter and on-the-spot 15-day cruise-group visas have also been introduced to capture niche segments such as cruise tourism and regional conferences.
For travellers or corporate mobility teams needing help navigating China’s fast-moving entry rules, VisaHQ offers an easy one-stop solution. Its China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) tracks the latest policy shifts, provides real-time eligibility checks, and can arrange full-service visa processing for those whose itineraries exceed Hainan’s 30-day waiver or extend to other parts of the country. The platform’s concierge team also handles bulk or group submissions, ensuring that last-minute conference delegations and project crews get the correct documents without administrative headaches.
![Hainan Free Trade Port Ups the Ante: 86-Country Visa-Free Scheme and 85 Direct Routes Ready Ahead of Island Customs Closure]()
The latest easing builds on the National Immigration Administration’s nationwide measures to digitalise the foreign-arrival card and to broaden China’s 240-hour visa-free transit scheme. Hainan, however, is the first province to bundle every available exemption into a single regional package. Officials highlighted that 54.8 per cent of the island’s 247 million cross-border movements so far in 2025 were processed under some form of visa waiver—up 25 per cent on the previous record year.
For multinationals with factories in Hainan’s bonded zones, the bigger prize is tax. From 18 December, the “customs closure” will abolish tariffs on most imported production inputs that remain on the island or are re-exported, and allow duty-free shopping allowances to jump to RMB 150,000 (about US$21,000) per person per year. Logistics players are already positioning cold-chain and high-tech warehouses near the two airports to take advantage of simplified clearance.
Practically, travel managers should update approval matrices: employees from any of the 86 listed countries no longer need to budget time or cost for a visa if their stay in Hainan is under 30 days. Carriers planning MICE events in early 2026 should note that group-visa processing for non-exempt nationalities can now be done entirely online, with physical passports collected on arrival. Hotels in Sanya and Haikou are reporting a spike in last-minute New-Year bookings, underscoring that Hainan’s “visa-free plus duty-free” pitch is gaining real transactional traction.
In parallel, Hainan airports now boast 85 international routes, giving the island more nonstop links than any other secondary hub on the Chinese mainland. Border-inspection authorities at Sanya Phoenix and Haikou Meilan airports showcased newly installed e-gate corridors, 55 additional biometric desks and a self-developed passenger-flow monitoring system that have already cut average clearance times to 15 minutes. A dedicated 144-hour visa-free transit counter and on-the-spot 15-day cruise-group visas have also been introduced to capture niche segments such as cruise tourism and regional conferences.
For travellers or corporate mobility teams needing help navigating China’s fast-moving entry rules, VisaHQ offers an easy one-stop solution. Its China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) tracks the latest policy shifts, provides real-time eligibility checks, and can arrange full-service visa processing for those whose itineraries exceed Hainan’s 30-day waiver or extend to other parts of the country. The platform’s concierge team also handles bulk or group submissions, ensuring that last-minute conference delegations and project crews get the correct documents without administrative headaches.
The latest easing builds on the National Immigration Administration’s nationwide measures to digitalise the foreign-arrival card and to broaden China’s 240-hour visa-free transit scheme. Hainan, however, is the first province to bundle every available exemption into a single regional package. Officials highlighted that 54.8 per cent of the island’s 247 million cross-border movements so far in 2025 were processed under some form of visa waiver—up 25 per cent on the previous record year.
For multinationals with factories in Hainan’s bonded zones, the bigger prize is tax. From 18 December, the “customs closure” will abolish tariffs on most imported production inputs that remain on the island or are re-exported, and allow duty-free shopping allowances to jump to RMB 150,000 (about US$21,000) per person per year. Logistics players are already positioning cold-chain and high-tech warehouses near the two airports to take advantage of simplified clearance.
Practically, travel managers should update approval matrices: employees from any of the 86 listed countries no longer need to budget time or cost for a visa if their stay in Hainan is under 30 days. Carriers planning MICE events in early 2026 should note that group-visa processing for non-exempt nationalities can now be done entirely online, with physical passports collected on arrival. Hotels in Sanya and Haikou are reporting a spike in last-minute New-Year bookings, underscoring that Hainan’s “visa-free plus duty-free” pitch is gaining real transactional traction.
