BEIJING — China announced Friday that it will allow visa-free entry for citizens of five European countries and Malaysia as it tries to encourage more people to visit for business and tourism.

Starting Dec. 1, citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia will be allowed to enter China for up to 15 days without a visa. The trial program will be in effect for one year.

China’s strict pandemic measures, which included required quarantines for all arrivals, discouraged many people from visiting for nearly three years. In the first six months of 2023, China recorded 8.4 million entries and exits by foreigners. That compares to 977 million for all of 2019, the last year before the pandemic.