Originally Posted by
travelinmanS
Flights from Europe are back to pre pandemic frequencies but I haven’t noticed any influx of Euros into Shanghai (which is the place Europeans seemed to love the most before Covid). I think this visa free policy is a recognition that visitors (and investments) from the EU are well behind expectations.
Even from North America, price is no longer a blocker. You can fly NYC-PVG round trip for as low as $1060 in the spring on JL. In addition to poor reputation of China, high inflation in the West and layoffs in tech and other high paying industries are also not helping. Half measures that only further complicate entrance requirements is not going to attract anymore visitors (look at how long the wiki for the TWOV article is!)