Beijing excursion advisor Shi Jinjie had a hectic week earlier this month.
With more than 10 years of experience serving travelers entering the city, it has received around 60 arrivals from the United States and a total of 12 from Germany and Indonesia.
“We do a lot of overtime a week, averaging more than 12 hours of painting a day,” he said.
Since the start of this year, the number of inbound tourists to the Chinese mainland from overseas and regions such as Hong Kong and Macao has risen significantly, boosting Shi’s business. He now leads a team of dozens of tour guides offering services in languages that include English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Korean.
It has even higher expectations for the long term thanks to a series of policy measures. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced later this month that China would grant unipasted dueral visa-free access for up to 15 days to travelers with passports issued through France, Germany. , Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia.
In response, Malaysia has published a visa-free policy for up to 30 days for Chinese travelers, which will take effect on Friday.
The testing policy will be in effect for one year starting Dec. 1. Citizens of the five European countries and Malaysia can enter China visa-free for business, tourism, family visits, and transit. and promote progress and high-quality opening, the ministry said.
During the summer holidays and National Day, those presented by Shi and his team were selected from a large number of visitors from countries such as Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, the United States, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan.
“This year has been exceptionally busy. The number of foreign tourists we serve almost doubled, and our monetary earnings during the summer more than doubled compared to the pre-pandemic period,” Shi said.
Although the paintings have been difficult, Shi considers it a blessing, because just a year ago, he was struggling.
“Inbound tourism is very slow and we had to rely on custom-designed domestic travel to make ends meet,” he said.
This tourism has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A report from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that in the first quarter of this year, just 52,000 inbound tourists were catered to by travel agencies nationwide, compared with 3.7 million in the same period in 2019.
The China Tourism Academy said that between 2020 and this year, the number of tourist visits to China is estimated to have declined by around 370 million, in a loss of around 362 billion USD in foreign tourism revenue.
However, inbound tourism is still widely considered to have wonderful prospects in China. In the first 10 months of this year, the number of foreigners in the country reached 26. 51 million after the country optimized its COVID-19 policies, the National Immigration Administration said.
British internet celebrity Lee Barrett has traveled around China since he settled in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, five years ago.
Barrett, who has more than 360,000 fans on YouTube, said: “China is an amazing country, with a lot of places to see and a lot to do. There is super-modern Shenzhen, the international city of Shanghai, culturally-rich Xi’an, and beautiful Kunming.”
He said he enjoyed coffee and cake at a street cafe during a trip with friends this month to Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, when he “felt the world pass slowly by”.
“Each town has a different gastronomic taste, with many dishes to try,” he added.
Popular destination
In 2021, a study report on the intentions and attitudes of inbound tourists in China, conducted jointly through Google and Ipsos, a leading market research company, said the country continues to attract visitors from around the world as trust in overseas is restored post-pandemic. .
The report surveyed other people from 19 countries who plan to travel to China. The country’s diverse cultures, landscapes and histories have been considered the top three attractions for global tourists.
This prospect is likely to be further leveraged, as more favorable policies were announced at the three-day China International Travel Mart 2023 held this month in Kunming.
During the event, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said more services are being offered to inbound travelers, such as simplified visa application procedures and the temporary exemption of fingerprint-taking for those who meet certain conditions. The official was speaking at an inbound tourism policy conference hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
In total, around one hundred Chinese embassies and consulates are currently offering walk-in visa application services, and until the end of this year, all such appointments will no longer be necessary.
The ministry said 260 Chinese embassies and consulates around the world will maintain the quality of visa services, making it easier for applicants to submit documents.
In addition, national visa-free transit policies of 72 hours and 144 hours have been extended to 54 countries, the National Immigration Administration said.
Speaking at the China International Travel Mart, Mao Xu, director of the administration’s foreigners management department, said visitors from countries with transit visa exemptions are allowed to travel or conduct business-related activities in certain areas permitted by port visa authorities.
Major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, apply the 144-hour visa-free policy, while Changsha, capital of Hunan province, Harbin, capital of Hunan province Heilongjiang, and Guilin, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. , put the 72-hour policy into effect.
In Chengdu, the government is in favor of the arrival of more tourists.
Guo Degang, a senior official at the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Culture, Television and Tourism, said: “The inbound tourism market has grown slowly in the past 10 months. “
In the same period in 2019, before the pandemic emerged, the city received 469,000 inbound tourist visits.
Guo said the local inbound tourism market has wonderful growth prospects, adding, “Chengdu has unique appeal as a destination for inbound travelers, especially those from Southeast Asia, with its tranquil lifestyle and exclusive cuisine, as well as the ability to see giant pandas. “
The city is a hub for visitors planning trips to Sichuan’s top tourist attractions, such as the Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, Huanglong, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Tibetan, Qiang, and Yi residential areas.
Guo believes that Chengdu will benefit greatly from the favorable inbound tourism policies.
“Earlier this year, we started providing inbound tourism education to more people to meet the growing demand,” Guo said.
“The visitor not only needs explanations about the tourist attractions, but also is very interested in everything that happens during the visit, such as popular customs, culinary culture and even social and economic development. “
New partnership
Chengdu has formed a partnership with leading online travel agencies, including Trip.com Group, to attract independent inbound travelers.
Themed tours, such as those featuring giant pandas and snow-capped mountains, have evolved based on the personal tastes of travelers from other countries.
“Everything is being done to develop products to cater to the various needs of inbound travelers,” Guo said.
Data from Trip.com Group suggest that the recovery in inbound tourism is accelerating.
Bookings in the first 10 months of this year grew by 125 percent compared with the same period last year, and reached nearly 80 percent of the number in 2019, the agency reported, adding that its bookings in the third quarter rose by 34 percent from the second quarter.
The top destinations for inbound tourists are Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and Qingdao, Shandong Province.
The major source countries for such arrivals are the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and the UK.
Major players in the sector also expect to benefit from favorable policies.
For example, Trip. com Group signed a three-year memorandum with the China International Cultural Association to advertise inbound tourism.
The travel agency will promote on its platforms the association’s Nihao! (Hello!) China campaign, which aims to foster and promote cultural exchanges and establish friendships between China and visitors from around the world. It will also create content to showcase specific services related to China’s rich history and cultural heritage.
In addition, the organization will Trip. com collaborate with Chinese cultural centers, tourism boards, and organizations to publicize the country’s attractions and experiences.
James Liang, executive chairman of the board at Trip.com Group, said, “To boost inbound tourism, the group will use its technological expertise to enhance ease of access for incoming visitors.
“In addition, we will consolidate resources to encourage tourism promotion, while showcasing China’s unique tourist attractions to attract visitors from all over the world. “
Trip.com Group said demand for trips to China should rise shortly, due to the efforts made by the government and the industry to facilitate travel.
Liang said that in some major economies, inbound tourism revenue accounts for 1-3 percent of GDP, adding that if China’s inbound tourism revenue reaches 1.5 percent of GDP, it could generate more than 1 trillion yuan ($139.8 billion) in market growth.
Joint efforts
Trip. com Group has also partnered with fintech company Ant Group and several other travel agencies, adding Our Tour. They plan to work in combination with the general experience of inbound tourism by focusing on spaces such as service portals, cell phone bills with foreign bank cards. , the promotion abroad of domestic destinations and the quality of the organization of travel services.
An inbound tourism service platform will be set up on the Trip. com Group’s overseas online page to assist travelers in China.
Our excursion requires increased marketing and promotional efforts for Chinese destinations, the optimization of products and inbound tourist routes, as well as the strengthening of multilingual communication and the progression of tour consultant teams.
Ant Group has proposed enhancing research and development of cross-border payments technology to support overseas visitors using electronic wallets, and linking foreign bank cards to digital payment systems.
Shi, the tour guide in Beijing, believes that since before the outbreak of the pandemic, foreign visitors are showing a growing preference for personalized itineraries that offer more freedom.
“Ancient Chinese architecture, history, culture and distinctive cuisine are highly attractive to these visitors,” Shi said.
He added that in Beijing, popular tourist reports include exploring the Forbidden City, walking the Great Wall, enjoying zha jiang mian (dried noodles with spicy bean sauce) and walking through the city’s hutongs or alleys.
While Shi acknowledges that inbound tourism has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, he feels that many of those operating in the industry are now much busier.
“Confidence has also increased in the sector as we are now getting an increase in firm business,” he said.
Shi believes that next year, inbound tourism will most likely return to 60-70% of pre-pandemic levels.
“We are fully prepared and look forward to welcoming people from all over the world,” he added.