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I think most countries would prefer to do it reciprocally as a matter of pride (for example Brazil started fingerprinting US travellers after the US was the fir

I think most countries would prefer to do it reciprocally as a matter of pride (for example Brazil started fingerprinting US travellers after the US was the first to start doing that to all foreigners), but in some cases they can't afford to put up barriers to tourism dollar inflows, so they make a difficult choice. Plenty of countries won't let Westerners waltz in without a visa -- for example India and China.

xaranke 8y ago
It ultimately comes down to balancing priorities - bringing in tourist money vs keeping up diplomatically. Both India and China have realized this - India allows an eVisa and China allows you to transit visa-free for upto 144 hours.
robocat 8y ago
> China You can just waltz in to the Shenzhen economic zone (if you have a privileged passport). A day trip if you stopover in Hong Kong - highly recommended to all electronics nerds.