BEIJING has slapped new visa rules on travellers to China ahead of the Olympic Games, causing confusion and delay for many around the world.

Changes include new visa requirements, more documents needed for visa applications, and restrictions on movement of foreigners between Hong Kong and China.

These steps are said to be in line with growing security concerns over the August Beijing Olympics and the unrest in Tibet.

A surge in the number of applications had also promoted the move.

But the added restrictions have caused confusion because of the way they have been imposed, without much warning.

In Singapore, for example, travellers were left scratching their heads after an official Chinese government website said that from July 1, visitors from the Republic will need visas even for stays under 14 days.

'From July 1, 2008, we temporarily require Singaporean passport holders to enter China with a valid visa,' said the website of the Chinese Embassy in the United States.

The site said nothing about other countries which also do not need short-stay visas, such as Brunei and Japan.

But neither the Chinese Embassy in Singapore nor Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) could confirm any impending change.

An MFA spokesman said yesterday: 'The Chinese have not communicated officially with us on this matter.'

Singaporeans have enjoyed visa-free privileges for short stays of under 14 days since 2003.

In the first 11 months of last year, Singaporeans made more than 812,000 visits to China - an increase of more than 11 per cent over the same period in 2006.

Other changes have also left both leisure and business travellers floundering.

Most recently, foreign nationals travelling to China from Hong Kong were left stranded after the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong stopped granting them visas, news agency AFP reported yesterday.

A statement on the Hong Kong website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry states that there had been a 'recent drastic rise' in the number of applicants.

'To spare applicants the unnecessary trouble, for non-residents of Hong Kong, please apply for the Chinese visa at the Chinese embassy or consulate-general in his or her home country or resident country,' it said.

One Hong Kong travel agent told AFP that visitors from around 30 countries - including Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia - were affected by the change.

Short-stop visas, which were available for some nationalities, including Australians, at the border with the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangdong province, have also been stopped.

These moves followed a surprise last month, when China stopped granting multiple-entry visas, which permit foreign travellers to enter and leave the country freely for three months.

All travellers to China now also have to present a return ticket, hotel vouchers and a full itinerary for a visa application, revealed Ms Ruth Lim, manager of marketing and communications at SA Tours.

'If we don't, the whole lot of passports will be thrown back to us without the visas and we have to start from scratch,' she said.

Business travellers have been especially hard hit by the new rules, as visa applications are said to be taking longer too, according to some travel agents.

But holiday-makers are also opting to avoid the hassle. Five travel agents The Straits Times spoke to said up to 10 per cent of their clients are switching destinations.

Mrs Harry Wong, 75, who was planning to go to China with some friends, said: 'Too many forms to fill, so troublesome, so we decided to take a cruise up to Hong Kong and back instead.'