The Great Wall of China: Hot destination

The Chinese consulate in Calcutta hopes to issue 30,000 visas in its first year, in sync with efforts to boost both business and leisure traffic from the east.

“We have had an overwhelming response from Calcuttans ever since we opened our visa office on May 5, with over 100 applications being processed everyday on an average,” Mao Siwei, the Chinese consul-general in Calcutta, told Metro.

He is confident that the Calcutta mission can achieve 30,000 visas in 12 months and increase the number substantially thereafter. “There’s huge interest in China among people here and the China tourism board is keen to tap into this region’s potential,” the consul-general said.

The city’s travel trade is also buoyant on China, offering it as an alternative holiday destination to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Bangkok. “Since visas can be obtained in only four working days now and even faster by dishing out a premium, we are now hard-selling China,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman of Travel Agents’ Federation of India (east).

Punjabi feels the direct flight of China Eastern to Kunming, affordable accommodation and cheap food have combined to make China a hot destination now. “Earlier, we were handling mostly business travellers to China, but now, 70 per cent of the visa applications would be by leisure tourists,” he said.

The consulate office, in collaboration with the tourism board, is keen to promote three different trails. “For a culture trip, one can go to Xi’an, which would take you back 2,000 years, and Beijing, for 1,000 years of Chinese history. Shopaholics should go to Shanghai and Shenzhen, while there could be a nature trail too,” the consul-general said.

While places like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing remain popular, China is promoting new destinations like the picturesque Yunnan province, home to 20 ethnic groups, the pristine beaches of Dalian in north China, Beidaihe, which used to be the summer retreat for the emperors, and Hainan island.

Siwei, who had hosted a Chinese New Year’s party, with more than 300 invitees from Chinatown this February, is keen to connect the Chinese community in Calcutta better with mainland China. “Chinatown in Tangra is a bit isolated and surely needs a facelift. We are ready to provide any technical help, should they approach us,” he said.

A clutch of Chinese companies has evinced interest in Bengal, according to the consul-general. While Tong Fang, the power plant giant, has finished commissioning two units and is working on the third, a state-owned steel company and a tyre-manufacturing giant are also in dialogue with Writers’, Siwei said.