VALLETTA — China has expanded its visa-free policy to nine more countries, including eight in Europe, allowing citizens in these countries to enter for up to 30 days without a visa for business, tourism and other visits starting from Saturday.

The policy now includes Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan, alongside other nations benefiting from China's open-door approach. Officials and tourism professionals from the newly included countries have welcomed the move as a step toward stronger bilateral ties.

Malta's Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg hailed the policy on Nov 22 as another milestone in the longstanding bilateral relations between the two countries.

"This visa-free agreement reflects the strong mutual trust and commitment to fostering closer ties in tourism, business and cultural exchanges," Borg, who is also Malta's minister for foreign and European affairs and trade, said in a news release.

"It simplifies travel for our citizens but also paves the way for deeper cooperation and new international trade opportunities," he added.

For Croatian tour guide Branka Peric, the visa-free policy is "certainly good news" for tourism and those who work in the tourism sector.

Peric, a longtime tour guide who is establishing her own travel agency, said the latest visa-free policy showcased China's opening-up to the outside world and will result in more friendly ties between China and Croatia.

"China and Croatia have a long history of good relations and this has been confirmed in many cases. China has shown that it can successfully cooperate with much smaller countries such as Croatia to the benefit of both sides," she noted.

Xie Dong, a Chinese inbound tour guide for Latvia and Estonia, said that China's new visa-free policy would boost tourism between the two Baltic countries and China, and called for direct flights between China and the Baltic countries.

For Nina Merlusca, who is the destination manager of Romanian tourism city Piatra-Neamt, the visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders will "increase cooperation between the two countries".

Based on her personal experiences of traveling in China, she said that China is a friendly country to tourists.

Starting from Saturday, ordinary passport holders from a total of 38 countries within China's visa-free arrangement can enter China without a need to apply for a visa for the purposes of business, tourism, family visits, exchanges and visits and transit, with stays of no more than 30 days.

On Dec 1, 2023, China began implementing unilateral visa-free entry trials for ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia. The policies were later expanded several times to more countries.