快来体验免签证北京游

Good news for travelers who have always wanted to see the Chinese capital, just not badly enough to go through all the trouble of getting a visa: Starting New Year's Day, foreigners will be allowed to stay in Beijing without a visa for 72 hours.

有一个好消息给那些总想看看中国的首都、但渴望程度还没到足以下决心克服一道道困难拿到来华签证的人：从明年1月1日起，外国人将获准免签证在北京停留72小时。

The new rule, hinted at back in May, is aimed at making tourism a 'strategic pillar of the economy,' the state-run China Daily said, citing the Beijing Tourism Administration.

国有媒体《中国日报》(China Daily)援引北京市旅游局的话说，这项新规定旨在让旅游业成为“经济的战略性支柱。政府有关部门今年5月就暗示过会推出这项规定。

The visa-free offer is only available to passengers from a list of 45 approved countries who are in transit, meaning travelers will have to show they have a plane ticket to a third country before being allowed out of the airport and into Beijing. The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe are on the approved list.

这项免签证政策目前只适用于45个国家的中转旅客，这意味着该政策的适用人群必须向中国方面出示其持有的第三国签证和前往那个国家的机票，才能获准离开机场前往北京市。美国、加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰和大多数欧洲国家都包括在这45个国家内。

By allowing foreign visitors to deplane with only a passport for a full three days, Beijing will be one-upping rival Shanghai, which for years has offered 48 hours of visa-free roaming to foreign visitors.

通过允许只持有护照的外国游客下飞机并在北京停留整整三天，北京将在与上海的竞争中占据上风，后者多年来一直向外国游客提供48小时免签证待遇。

The southern island province of Hainan, sometimes optimistically referred to by tourism authorities as 'China's Hawaii,' offers 21 days without a visa, but only for people who travel with tour groups.

南方省份海南向游客提供21天免签证待遇，但适用对象只限于参团旅游的人。海南有时会被中国旅游主管部门乐观地称作“中国的夏威夷。

Shanghai, which is now contemplating extending its visa-free rule to 72 hours, hasn't seen much of a tourist windfall from its current policy. Less than 3,000 visitors took advantage of the offer in 2010, according to the state-run Shanghai Daily.

上海目前正在考虑将其免签证停留时间延长到72小时，不过上海实施多年的这项游客免签证政策并没有给该市的旅游业带来太大好处。据国有媒体《上海日报》(Shanghai Daily)报道，2010年享受这项政策来华旅游的人不足3,000人。

But with two world-class attractions in the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, Beijing is arguably a much bigger draw for leisure tourists, and the extra 24 hours could make a big difference. The allotted three days is just about enough time to swing by the monumental must-sees, eat a helping or two of Peking duck, do a little shopping and maybe sneak in a stroll through the city's charming hutong.

但凭借故宫和长城这两个世界级景点，北京对休闲型游客的吸引力无疑会大得多，而比上海多出的这24小时免签证停留时间也有可能使北京的这项政策对旅游业产生十分不同于上海的推动作用。在这三天的免签证停留时间里，游客大约恰好足以参观完北京那些必游景点、吃上一两份北京烤鸭、买些东西，或许还有空到北京颇具魅力的胡同里逛逛。

The potential boost to Beijing's tourism sector is obvious. Beijing currently gets about 5 million foreign visitors a year, and each spends about $1000, state media said. According to Airports Council International, nearly 47 million people passed through Beijing International Airport between January and October, making it the second-busiest airport in the world after Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.

这项政策给北京旅游业可能带来的提振是显而易见的。国有媒体说，北京目前每年的海外游客接待量约为500万人次，每位游客平均花费约1000美元。国际机场理事会(Airports Council International)的数据显示，今年1至10月，北京首都国际机场的客流量接近4,700万人次，这使它成为世界第二繁忙的机场，仅次于美国亚特兰大哈兹菲尔德-杰克逊国际机场(Hartsfield-Jackson)。

Beijing Jiaotong University tourism professor Zhang Hui, quoted in China Daily, called the visa waiver a 'giant step forward' that would be of particular benefit to tour companies targeting businessmen.

《中国日报》援引北京交通大学旅游系教授张辉的话说，北京推出这项免签证政策是“向前迈出的巨大一步，它对以商界人士为目标客户的旅游企业尤其有好处。

'Those on business trips usually don't have sightseeing plans, so they're free to explore when they have time,' Zhang told the newspaper. 'However, the relatively tight visa restrictions China now adopts only put potential visitors off.'

张辉对该报说，那些在外出差的人通常没有观光计划，所有当这些人有时间时他们是乐于顺便游览一下的；但中国目前相对较严的签证限制却将那些潜在的游客拒之门外了。

State media didn't say why Beijing decided to limit the visa-free period to 72 hours, though China Real Time can't help but wonder if they might have been thinking of the famous Benjamin Franklin quote: 'Fish and visitors stink after three days.'

中国国有媒体没有说北京为何决定将免签证时间限制在72小时，《中国实时报》栏目虽然也无法对此提供解释，但我们猜想北京有关部门做这项决定时是否想到了本杰明·富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)的那句名言：鱼放三天发臭，客住三天讨嫌。(Fish and visitors stink after three days)