appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

June Xia

Ralph Jennings

Nikolas Karageorge has mapped out a tour of China that starts in Shanghai and Beijing before heading deep inland – venturing well beyond the typical tourist trail.
“ It’s an ambitious itinerary, I know!” said the 37-year-old resident of Melbourne, Australia, about his path through Chengdu, Chongqing, Zhangjiajie, Guizhou, Guilin and finally Guangzhou. “I’ve heard China is very safe and easy to travel around so this is a great opportunity, as Australians currently have 30 days of visa-free travel.”
Like Karageorge, a growing influx of foreign tourists is heading to China this summer as Beijing’s expanded visa-free scheme spurs repeat visits, including trips to lesser-known parts of the country.
Inbound travel bookings rose by more than 600 per cent year on year for the Dragon Boat Festival, held from June 19 to 21, according to online travel platform Fliggy, which released the figures on June 12.
Direct inbound flights to China also increased 8.3 per cent year on year in the 12 months ending on June 10, aviation data platform VariFlight reported. IBA, an aviation intelligence firm, said airline capacity into China from June through August was scheduled to reach 22.4 million seats, up 4.3 per cent year on year.
The trend builds on a robust Labour Day holiday in May, when trips by foreign nationals to and from China rose 12.5 per cent from a year earlier to 1.26 million, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Of those entering the country, about 436,000 travelled visa-free, up 14.7 per cent over the same period in 2025.
As the world’s second-largest economy grapples with a property slump and weak domestic consumption, authorities have moved to dismantle travel barriers, viewing tourism as a strategic lever to bolster the service sector. Beijing has added more than 50 new countries to its visa-free policy since late 2023, fuelling the surge in foreign visitors.
The eased travel marks a break from the past, when complex visa applications and the difficulty of using foreign credit cards on local mobile payment networks deterred international leisure travellers.
To reduce friction for visitors, Beijing has also lengthened many visa-free transit stays from six to 10 days and rolled out instant tax refunds for departing travellers. Major airports have also begun offering six- to eight-hour layover tours for transiting passengers.
“Visa-free policies, easier transit rules, improved payment access and stronger air connectivity are making China easier to visit,” said Subramania Bhatt, CEO of the technology and marketing firm China Trading Desk.


Across the country, more than 290 major tourist spots have also deployed multilingual ticketing machines and opened their reservation systems to foreign passport holders, Xinhua reported in May, addressing a long-standing complaint that visitors without a Chinese ID card were unable to book entry tickets.
Steven Zhao, CEO of travel agency China Highlights, said the policy shift was drawing a large number of first-time foreign tourists, who later recommended the country to others. “There’s a comprehensive set of factors,” Zhao said. “Visa-free is a key policy; then the dividends gradually get released.”
Zhao added that he had observed stable arrivals from Europe, North America and other parts of Asia. Repeat travellers, he said, preferred to visit second-tier cities rather than typical first-timer destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai.
Australian tourist Karageorge’s itinerary reflects this trend. “Lots of my friends have been travelling in China recently, and they love it,” he said, explaining why he had chosen to visit in October.
“Australians like to go beyond the main tourist cities or sightseeing areas compared to other cultures,” he added. “We value going down a path less travelled or exploring more natural and countryside areas because they offer unique experiences.”
Xinhua highlighted Heilongjiang, Guizhou, Hunan and Shanxi provinces as destinations on the rise this year, along with the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. All saw inbound traffic rise by more than 60 per cent during the May Day holiday, the state-run People’s Daily reported.
Coastal cities such as Qingdao and renowned natural sites such as Zhangjiajie and Guilin recorded year-on-year inbound visitor growth exceeding 100 per cent, according to Trip.com Group’s annual report on inbound tourism.
But aviation capacity remained a bottleneck, with demand recovering much faster than the addition of new flight routes, the company said. The firm has set a goal of bringing 200 million visitor arrivals to China over the next five years.
The economic stakes are substantial. China has long run a services trade deficit, which reached 828.7 billion yuan (US$122.6 billion) last year, driven largely by outbound tourists spending more abroad than foreign visitors do in China, according to CEIC Data, a global economic data platform.


China airports climb global-connectivity ranking as international routes rise: OAG report

Chinese travel platform sparks debate with US$760,000 space flight package

China’s inbound tourism revenue projected to reach US$470 billion by 2040: UBS

How China’s new railway artery bolsters Hong Kong’s ties to the capital, central heartland

China travel

Visa-free ‘dividends’: China drawing a boom in foreign visitors this summer

A foreign tourist records with a Chinese-brand pocket camera at the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing on May 2. Photo: Xinhua

High-speed and visa-free: how China is cruising to become the world’s top tourism market

Italian tourists (front) pose for a selfie at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. Photo: Xinhua

Foreign tourists visit Qilou Old Street in Haikou, in China’s southern island province of Hainan on May 9. Photo: Xinhua

Shanghai to lead ‘financial superpower’ push as China unveils plan to boost yuan use

HAIAN, CHINA - MARCH 20, 2024 - A staff member counts Chinese yuan at a bank in Haian, East China’s Jiangsu province, March 20, 2024. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

People’s Bank of China governor Pan Gongsheng speaks at the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on Wednesday. Photo: Weibo

China credit data shows sluggish demand, more household deleveraging amid weak investment

People walk along a street in Shanghai on Tuesday. Households in China are showing a weak appetite for taking on debt. Photo: EPA

Panda and pet services: China plans over 160 tourist trains to boost consumption

On November 11, 2024, the brand-new “Panda Express” tourist train officially debuted in Chengdu. Photo: scol.com

China boosts consumption with longer, realigned holidays but growing crowds daunt tourists

People crowd a walkway and bridge over West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on May 3 during the five-day Labour Day holiday. Photo: AFP

Passengers at Nanjing Railway Station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on May 5. Photo: Xinhua

Economy

China Economy

Global Economy

A growing number of foreign travellers are taking advantage of looser rules to venture inland, fuelling a shift away from traditional hotspots


A growing number of foreign travellers are taking advantage of looser rules to venture inland, fuelling a shift away from traditional hotspots.


Visa-free ‘dividends’: China drawing a boom in foreign visitors this summer

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A growing number of foreign travellers are taking advantage of looser rules to venture inland, fuelling a shift away from traditional hotspots

A growing number of foreign travellers are taking advantage of looser rules to venture inland, fuelling a shift away from traditional hotspots