Guangdong province in South China will allow overseas travelers from 53 nations and regions to enjoy a 144-hour visa-free visit starting in May, with an aim to further promote the province’s tourism industry.

Lin Weixiong, deputy director general of the Guangdong Department of Public Security, said foreign passengers can visit all of Guangdong’s 21 prefecture-level cities when they have entered the province.

“In addition to the international airports, foreigners can enter and leave Guangdong through the four railways, the eight land and 15 water ports in the province,” Lin said at a press conference in the Guangdong provincial capital of Guangzhou on Tuesday.

“The new visa-free policy will play a very active role in promoting regional economic construction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and advancing cooperation between Guangdong and the neighboring Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in the following years,” Lin said.

The entry and exit and customs departments have now established special channels in airports, rail, land and water ports and are preparing to help foreign travelers through the procedures for 144-hour visa-free stays in Guangdong, he added.