Young Chinese find niche in inbound tourism

Young Chinese have developed new business avenues on the side, such as teaching Chinese, Chinese name-giving and foreign language tour guides, fueled by the growing popularity of inbound tourism and a trend of more foreign users registering on Chinese social media platforms, industry players said.

A niche has developed in China for side businesses related to foreigners, and customized tour guide services such as helping foreign couples plan honeymoon trips in China and guiding tourists to visit the Great Wall have become particularly popular, according to Xianyu, Alibaba Group's online trading platform for secondhand goods.

In the past year until mid-February, the number of available products related to tour guide services for foreign visitors and on giving foreigners Chinese names have increased by 98 percent, while the ordering volume of those products has surged by 275 percent year-on-year, according to Xianyu.

Wu Pengfei, a college student in Shanghai, has been a part-time amateur tour guide since June last year, and he has received three groups of foreign travelers so far, including those from Singapore, Spain and Kyrgyzstan.

As a student majoring in Chinese teaching, Wu said he needs to get in touch with more foreigners to prepare for his future career development.

Wu, who has posted his information on Xianyu, also provides tour guide services to domestic travelers such as students, parent-child and senior travelers.

"I charge 500 yuan ($68.7) a day as a tour guide, and I don't limit the travel time or the number of participants. I have had some good experiences, as the job can help me achieve more income, improve my interpersonal communication skills, and get recognition from others," Wu said.

Currently, China has some 660,000 certified tour guides, of which 91.6 percent are Chinese tour guides and 8.4 percent are foreign-language guides. As inbound tourism continues to heat up, a shortage of foreign-language tour guides is becoming increasingly apparent, according to the China Association of Travel Services.

Besides being a tour guide, more young Chinese have posted information on Xianyu and RedNote, a Chinese lifestyle platform, on giving Chinese names to foreigners, and they charge anywhere from 5 yuan to 20 yuan on average for the service.

They often ask the foreigners about their favorite Chinese characters and stories, and give names based on traditional Chinese culture and ancient poetry.

Since late 2023, China has continued to promote inbound tourism and has unveiled unilateral visa-free policies to multiple countries, encouraging more foreign travelers to visit China.

During this year's Spring Festival holiday from Jan 28 to Feb 4, the booking volume of domestic hotels by inbound tourists jumped more than 60 percent year-on-year, and booking volume of admission tickets surged 180 percent on a yearly basis, according to Trip.com Group, China's largest online travel agency.

In the latest measure to boost inbound tourism, China last week launched a visa-free policy for those tour groups from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who want to visit Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Among inbound tourists who visited China during the Spring Festival holiday, visitors from Malaysia and Thailand were listed among the top 10 in terms of countries of origin, according to Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency.

"With cultural similarities, many tourists from Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam came to China to experience the festive mood of the Spring Festival this year. Xishuangbanna is located close to ASEAN and the transportation is convenient with the operation of the China-Laos Railway. The latest visa-free policy will encourage more tourists to visit China," said Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar.