(Yicai) July 5 -- Foreign travelers are taking advantage of China's new visa exemption policy as trips to the Asian country jumped almost three times in the first half.

From January to June, 14.6 million foreigners entered China, up almost 153 percent from a year ago, the immigration administration announced today. More foreigners will come to China in the second half, the bureau predicted.

At 8.5 million travelers, almost 60 percent of the total made use of the nation's visa-free policy in the six months, rising nearly threefold.

China gradually started a unilateral visa-free policy pilot for citizens of 12 countries, including France, since last December and extended the policy to New Zealand, Australia, and Poland on July 1. It has also debuted mutual visa exemptions with seven countries including Singapore and Thailand during the first half.

Moreover, since January 2013, some 23 major Chinese cities have implemented 72-hour or 144-hour transit visa exemptions for citizens of 54 countries.

Editor: Emmi Laine