Take a walk in the Gardens by the Bay, go shopping in the high-end malls at the Marina Bay Sands, take photos with the iconic Merlion Statue, enjoy a hearty meal in Chinatown, experience adrenaline-rushing thrill rides at the Universal Studios, or enjoy a cozy afternoon at the Jewel Changi Airport…… A fascinating city-state, a vibrant metropolis, where diverse experiences unfold every moment, Singapore is a captivating island nation in Southeast Asia that boasts a thriving tourism industry that excites visitors with its remarkable blend of modernity and tradition.  Sounds tempting to go? There’s more good news. China and Singapore announced a 30-day visa-free policy last Thursday that is likely to see a boom in tourism between the two countries. "Both countries will work out the implementation details of the mutual 30-day visa exemption arrangement and implement it in early 2024," the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also Singapore's finance minister, made the announcement during the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation(JCBC) in Tianjin. The JCBC is the highest-level annual forum between both countries, reviewing their substantive collaboration and charting the direction of cooperation. With the number of flights between Singapore and China increasing, the two countries will facilitate travel via a 30-day mutual visa exemption policy, media reported, citing Wong. 30-day mutual visa exemption Singapore is a popular destination for Chinese tourists and a key source of inbound visitors for China. One million Chinese headed to Singapore in the first nine months of the year, 35 percent of the level of 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, with China ranking as its second-biggest source of visitors, according to official figures.  On microblogging site Weibo, the topic of the mutual visa exemption was the second most searched-for topic at one point, with 120 million views and 26,000 discussion threads. According to online travel operator Trip.com, the news sparked a considerable interest in travel to the island state among Chinese travelers. Trip.com said the search volume for Singapore on their sites rose by 80 percent in the hour after the announcement of the news, compared with the hour before, with flight ticket searches going up 90 percent and hotel searches increasing 50 percent. The current average length of stay is five days for Singaporeans in China and four days for the Chinese visiting Singapore, data from Trip.com showed. The Chinese mainland cities most popular with visiting Singaporeans are Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Local media also reported that the Singapore government will speak to their Chinese counterparts on how to further increase the number of direct flights between both countries, according to Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat. China has waived visas for Singaporean passport holders for 15-day trips since July. Searches for tourist sites in Singapore also surged after the announcement. Data from travel platform Qunar.com showed that searches for Singapore quadrupled compared with last week, while searches for tickets to Universal Studios Singapore shot up 40 percent month-on-month. Industry observers expect Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, now all offering visa-free travel for Chinese travelers, to form a golden outbound travel route in 2024. While Singapore is set to become the ninth country of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take steps to ease entry for Chinese passport holders, the other eight ASEAN members have already done so recently, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The Philippines is now the only exemption. Meanwhile, under a visa-free entry policy effective from Dec.1, ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia are now able to enjoy visa-free travel to China f