Visa regulations cause drop in China' visits

HK airport, not so busy
via WikipediaThe Wall Street Journal (h/t @imagethief) reports a drop in foreign visitors to China in April, despite the upcoming Beijing Olympics. According to the the Beijing Statistical Bureau, the city saw a sharp drop in both business visitors and other travelers. National figures will only be available later on.
In April China tightened its regulations for F-visas and later announced that student visas would not be issued for the two-month summer break.

According to official estimates, 385,000 overseas visitors came to Beijing in April, a 5.3% decline from April 2007 that has taken some experts by surprise as the Chinese capital readies itself for August's Olympic Games. The numbers don't appear to differentiate between those on business and travel visas.

The number of travelers from Hong Kong and Macau, ten percent of the total, because of the ease to get visas there before April, were down even 30 percent.
April was only the first month when foreign visitors were taking by surprise by the tigthening of the visa rules, so the figures for the upcoming months might even be more reason for concern. The bureau said that apart from the visa-rules, also the spike in prices for hotels explained the drop.

"Even for people now residing in China, they are being asked to go outside of China, and they end up not being able to go back," said Cathy Hsu, a professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Hotel & Tourism Management. "The process is more complicated. You need to provide your lodging verification, round-trip tickets... For leisure travel, you may think twice about it."