China Southern's Guangzhou hub gets visa-free stopovers

Guangzhou will join Beijing and Shanghai in granting visa-free stopovers to Australian travellers from August 1st this year.

Under new transit permit rules to be introduced later this year, passport holders of Australia and 44 other countries can enjoy a visa-free visit for up to 72 hours provided they're then flying on to other international destinations.

China's third largest city, and the primary commercial and manufacturing hub of the Pearl River Delta region, Guangzhou is also home to China Southern – and the airline is trumpeting the new visa-free visits as a halfway break for trips on its Canton Route to London.

"This is a great opportunity to get to know old Canton, one of China’s most exciting provinces" said Henry He, China Southern's General Manager for Australia and New Zealand.

"Australians may not be able to pronounce Guangzhou or even Guangdong straight away, but just 24 hours among the amazing can-do Cantonese people will help visitors to see why Guangzhou is China’s next ‘in’ destination."

"The Cantonese really love their food, and this is evident in the amazing range and quality of Guangzhou’s food scene" He added.

Visitors can travel to any part of Guangdong Province, including Shenzhen.

China Southern will launch its flagship Airbus A380 on Sydney-Guangzhou flights from October 27 – although there won't be an A380 on the second leg through to London – while Auckland-Guangzhou will see a daily Boeing 787 Dreamliner service starting the same day.

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David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.