China courts Europe and Southeast Asia with visa-free travel

HONG KONG -- China has dramatically expanded its visa-free programs in the past three months, indicating a growing effort to boost tourism and cross-border business as the economy slows.

Beijing last week added Ireland and Switzerland to the list of countries whose passport holders can enter without visas. This expands China's outreach to European travelers after it recently granted visa-free tourism and business access to citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain for 15 days.