Visa-free policies help attract more visitors

BEIJING/GUANGZHOU — China's inbound tourism witnessed significant growth during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, fueled by visa facilitation policies and a rich array of cultural and tourism activities.

Beijing welcomed 25 million visitors during the holiday, generating tourism revenue of 31.65 billion yuan ($4.45 billion), with those figures up 3.6 percent and 4.7 percent year-on-year, according to the city's culture and tourism authority.

Notably, Beijing hosted some 119,000 overseas arrivals — a remarkable increase of 48 percent compared to the same period last year. Their spending totaled 1.23 billion yuan, up 54.1 percent year-on-year.

Popular destinations among overseas visitors included Beijing Universal Resort, the Palace Museum, the Mutianyu and Badaling sections of the Great Wall, and the famed commercial districts of Sanlitun and Wangfujing. The city's duty-free shops saw sales exceed 22 million yuan during the holiday, more than doubling last year's figure.

Foreign tourists also immersed themselves in a rich variety of cultural activities during the holiday. Beijing alone organized over 4,200 cultural and tourism events, as well as nearly 100 travel routes for the holiday, featuring diverse themes such as the Great Wall, the Grand Canal and the city's Central Axis, which proved popular among residents and tourists alike.

South China's Guangdong province — a major economic hub — also experienced a substantial rise in international travelers during the holiday, thanks to the country's ever-improving visa-free travel policies.

At Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the total number of travelers leaving and entering China exceeded 350,000 by noon on Wednesday, marking an increase of over 13 percent year-on-year.

Russian traveler Anna Ivanova expressed her surprise at the swift immigration process upon arriving in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

"It only took me about 20 minutes from getting off the plane to clearing immigration," she said. "Traveling to China has become very convenient under the visa-free policy."

Her quick immigration process was the result of China's visa-free travel policy for Russian nationals holding ordinary passports, which took effect on Sept 15. More than 4,800 Russian travelers have since entered China visa-free through Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, with that figure accounting for approximately 66 percent of all Russian arrivals the airport has handled in that time.

"We maintain round-the-clock staffing, open all inspection channels and do our utmost to provide safe, efficient and convenient clearance for travelers," said Liu Huifang, who works at the airport's border inspection station.

According to China's National Immigration Administration (NIA), tourists from 76 countries are now able to benefit from unilateral or mutual visa-free entry, with transit exemptions expanded to 55 countries. Citizens of 55 countries can visit China in transit visa-free for up to 10 days, before traveling on to a third destination.

The NIA previously estimated that an average of 2 million daily border crossings would be recorded during the holiday.

To facilitate the travel of foreign tourists, China is working to remove payment barriers and is rolling out AI-powered translation tools at airports and tourist attractions nationwide.

Xinhua