In November 2023, China began to implement the 72/144-hour transit visa-free policy for Norwegian citizens, and now the 72/144-hour transit visa-free policy applies to 54 countries.
“Is Shanghai a city? What a city!” Since the beginning of this year, with the continuous expansion of the visa-free “circle of friends” and the endorsement of the 144-hour transit visa-free policy, foreign tourists have become more convenient to travel to China. So far, China Travel has more than 40,000 entries on TikTok. The boom of “China Travel” is due to the facilitation policy for foreigners to travel to China
Not only is it a popular spot in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi ‘an and other cities, but this class of “foreigners” also love to take high-speed rail, and senior tourists love to visit small towns. Various visa-free policies have made foreign tourists become “special forces”. On the Qunar platform, a Russian tourist has visited 16 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Rizhao, Ningbo and other cities in six months.
The number of foreign passport holders increased by 1.8 times year-on-year
A list of TOP10 most popular cities for foreign tourists has been released
The 144-hour transit visa-free policy and China’s unilateral visa-free policy for many countries have facilitated the experience of foreign tourists entering China. At present, China’s 72/144-hour transit visa-free policy is applicable to 54 countries, and 20 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jieyang, Shenyang, Dalian, Qingdao, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi ‘an, Xiamen, Wuhan and Kunming have implemented the 144-hour transit visa-free policy. Three cities, including Changsha, Harbin and Guilin, have implemented a 72-hour visa-free transit policy.
On July 5, data from the National Immigration Administration showed that 14.635 million foreigners entered China at ports in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 152.7%. Among them, 8.542 million people entered China through visa-free entry, accounting for 52 percent, an increase of 190.1 percent year-on-year.
The increase in the number of arrivals has also brought about a rapid recovery of inbound tourism. On Qunar’s platform, passenger bookings using non-Chinese passports to book tickets between domestic routes in the first half of 2024 increased by 1.8 times compared with 2023. Among them, passport holders from the United States, Russia, Canada, South Korea and Australia ranked in the top five. Holders of Malaysian, Japanese and Kazakh passports saw the most significant increase in bookings, all at more than 2.2 times.
In terms of destination, big cities remain popular destinations for foreign travelers. Data from Qunar shows that the TOP10 most popular destinations for foreign travelers flying in China are Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi ‘an, Chongqing, Kunming and Qingdao.
The Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Terra-cotta Warriors are the three must-check attractions for foreign tourists, while Shanghai Yu Garden, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, West Lake in Hangzhou and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan are also popular among foreign tourists.
Foreign tourists also have a ‘contempt chain’
Taking high-speed trains and visiting small towns is the advanced version of China Travel
Domestic tourists are not satisfied with punching a card to visit scenic spots, and there is also a “contempt chain” between foreign tourists. “Living Excel” people who have lived in China, been to China or are good at doing tips have begun to “show superiority” to foreign tourists who only visit the big attractions.
Not content with flying back and forth between cities, advanced foreign tourists choose to take high-speed trains and experience Chinese speed. On the Qunar platform, the United States, South Korea, Russia, Vietnam and Malaysia ranked higher in terms of passenger high-speed rail ticket bookings, and the Jiangzzhe-Shanghai 2-hour high-speed rail circle, the Sichuan-Chongqing 2-hour high-speed rail circle, and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen 2-hour high-speed rail circle were widely popular, with Jinhua, Nanjing and Suzhou among the popular destinations.
Within the 2-hour high-speed rail circle between Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, Yiwu is a very popular stop for foreign tourists. A blogger said that his Christmas gifts when he was a child were printed with “MADE IN CHINA” and he mistakenly thought Santa Claus was Chinese when he was a child. In Yiwu, he bought a lot of sports peripheral products, and even laughed that “Yiwu’s Olympic atmosphere is second only to Paris.”
“I love this robot named Boris!” After an overseas blogger checked into a hotel, his family encountered a food delivery robot common in domestic hotels in the elevator, and they felt very interesting and recorded a video. In the comments section, foreigners who understand Chinese well replied: “When you got into the elevator, the robot said ‘excuse me’ in Chinese, and its name is not Boris.”
Various visa-free policies have made foreign tourists become “special forces”. On the Qunar platform, a Russian tourist has visited 16 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Rizhao, Ningbo and other cities in six months. A Turkish tourist visited 12 cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Jinan and Qingdao.
Not content with the sights of big cities, veteran foreign travelers are drawn to smaller cities with Chinese characteristics. Heihe has become a “receiving place” for Russians to shop online, and South Korean tourists have flocked to Zhangjiajie. Yuanyang Terrace in Yunnan, Yanjin in Zhaotong, Yunnan, known as the “narrowest county”, colorful Danxia in Zhangye, Gansu and other small towns appear in the vlog records of foreign tourists.
China is too big and 144 hours is too short. Where to go on the platform, within half a year, more than 10% of foreign tourists come for the second time.
Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, said: “At present, international flights have recovered to 80% of 2019, Chinese airlines’ ticket prices are more suitable, a large number of foreign passengers choose to transit in China, and the visa-free policy just gives them the opportunity to play China.” China is becoming a popular destination for foreigners again, and tourism has also become a window for China to show and communicate with the outside world, so that more people can know and understand China and experience China.”
The large influx of inbound tourists has put forward higher requirements for the quality and level of inbound tourism. As the first stop for foreign tourists entering China, major ports have continuously optimized their services to create a “convenient first stop in China.” The Guangzhou port provides multi-language translation for inbound passengers, and the Beijing port issues foreigner entry registration cards to all airlines. The average time for checking a transit person at major airports across the country has been reduced from six minutes to two minutes, significantly increasing the valid time for foreign tourists to stay in China.
At present, the boom of “China Travel” is still continuing, and the content of foreign tourists on the streets of China is gradually increasing. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: “We will continue to improve measures to facilitate personnel exchanges and make it more convenient and comfortable for foreign friends to travel in China. China is here, welcome to come!
