News

As China's inbound arrivals hit records, the constraint has moved from entry to the ground: timed entries, rail seats and peak-season rooms sell out regardless of visa-free access.

A new State Council regulation on exit-entry administration took effect on September 15. Border checkpoints are standardising enforcement and adding multilingual self-service terminals.

Shanghai received 5.31 million inbound visitors in the first half of 2026, a record for the period. The next phase is about converting arrivals into spending across the city and the delta.

Korea, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the US, Japan, Mongolia and Australia supply 62 percent of China's foreign arrivals - a shift that reshapes itinerary planning.

China's culture and tourism ministry has published its 15th Five-Year Plan, setting eight areas of priority work and 54 key projects through 2030 — including easier booking and holiday reform.

China has lowered its departure tax refund threshold from 500 to 200 yuan and raised the cash refund limit to 20,000 yuan, widening the scheme to shops at ports, malls, scenic areas and hotels.

A new report on China's river cruise industry finds the Yangtze running at a 79.5 percent average load factor and foreign passenger numbers on Hubei's provincial cruises up 62 percent year on year.

A study released at the 2026 services trade fair finds that China's inbound visitor spending per trip is 357.3 dollars — about 29 percent of the global average — and identifies service quality as the highest-impact fix.

A Yangshuo resort reports foreign guests at 37 percent of bookings this year, up from 21 percent, as secondary destinations gain ground and carriers add capacity to meet demand.

Bank analysis projects China's travel-related revenue rising from 4.8 percent of GDP in 2024 to 6.7 percent by 2030, with the market growing from about 1 trillion to 1.8 trillion dollars.

China's border authorities processed 4.99 billion crossings in the first eight months of 2026, with visa-free foreign entries up 26.8 percent and accounting for 77.6 percent of all foreign arrivals.

Foreign arrivals at Beijing's ports rose about 25 percent in September, and booking data shows visitors increasingly heading for the suburbs — courtyard homestays outside the city are up 50 percent year on year.

China's travel service exports reached 263.6 billion yuan in the first seven months of 2026, up 27.7 percent — the fastest-growing of the country's top five service export categories, with spending shifting toward shopping, medical and experience travel.

Vietnam's addition to China's 240-hour visa-free transit and the parallel Hainan 30-day waiver are reshaping Southeast Asian travel planning — with first-half border data showing visa-free entries up 30.6 percent and Vietnam now the fourth-largest source market.

China's departure tax refund went paperless in July: a 200-yuan minimum purchase, a 20,000-yuan cash ceiling, three-minute refund forms and refunds claimable in a province other than the one where you shopped.

European bookings to China climbed 275 percent year on year this summer as heatwaves pushed travelers toward cooler destinations — with Harbin, Guizhou and the Yunnan highlands leading the shift and inbound spending up 27.8 percent in the first seven months.