Japanese airlines and travel businesses have expressed expectations that numbers of visitors to China for tourism and business will increase as Beijing resumes its visa exemption for short-term stays by Japanese nationals from Saturday.

The number of Japanese travelers to the Asian neighbor has been slow to recover since the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the time needed to obtain visas.

"It's good news that the problem with procedures will be removed," ANA Holdings President and CEO Koji Shibata said Friday. "We hope travel to China will increase."