China registered 150 million tourist arrivals in 2026, following 154.5 million inbound arrivals in 2025, the National Immigration Administration and travel data sources confirmed. In the third quarter of 2026, authorities inspected 192 million entry-exit personnel nationwide, marking a 7.9% increase from the previous year. Visa-free inbound arrivals reached 8.992 million person-times in Q3 2026, comprising 77.5% of total foreign entries and growing 24.1% year-on-year. Visa-free policies have expanded, covering 57 countries under the 240-hour transit policy and 61 countries under Hainan’s 30-day inbound visa-free policy as of August 20, 2026.
Inbound Tourists’ Spending Below Global Average
Inbound tourists spent an average of $357.3 per capita
in 2025, approximately 29.1% of the global average, indicating a significant gap between visitor volume and revenue generated. The first half of 2026 saw inbound tourist arrivals rise 49.72% year-on-year while consumption increased by 44.01%, showing that spending growth is consistently trailing behind visitor growth according to Ctrip data.
Analysis of Consumption Bottlenecks in Inbound Tourism
Experts attribute the low average spending to short tourist stays and shallow consumption depth. Visitors primarily engage in low-priced Chinese cultural experiences such as subway rides, shared bicycles costing under 2 yuan for up to 60 minutes, and inexpensive local snacks. Medium-cost guided tours offering higher-value services typically run about 3000
yuan per person for two days, yet many foreign travelers prefer independent travel despite challenges with reservations.
Structural barriers include foreign tourists’ difficulties with Chinese mobile payment systems and digital transactions, limiting their ability to spend. Payment apps often lack user-friendly multilingual interfaces and confuse tourists with various QR codes required for different services, such as public transit and shared bicycle rentals.
Tourist Experiences with Digital Payment and Service Access
Tourists from countries like Russia, Spain, and Singapore report delays and confusion due to unfamiliarity with China’s digital payment procedures. Some struggled to distinguish between travel and payment QR codes, while others faced interface changes from English to
Chinese within apps. Ride-hailing services like Didi are inaccessible in restricted traffic zones, frustrating tourists’ mobility. These issues hinder seamless consumption even for small transactions, creating a consumption bottleneck despite increasing tourism numbers.
Policy Measures and Strategic Importance of Inbound Tourism
China’s government included tourism as a key sector in high-level opening-up and consumption expansion strategies. Nine ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued “Policy Measures on Promoting Travel Service Exports and Expanding Inbound Consumption” in March 2026 to improve digital services and data interconnectivity for overseas visitors. Visa-free policies have been a core driver of inbound tourism growth. For example, Russia’s visa-free policy was extended to December
31, 2027, while 48 other countries’ visa-free access extends through December 31, 2026.
Official Views on Inbound Tourism Challenges and Opportunities
Authorities emphasize that inbound tourism represents more than cultural exchange; it is vital for economic development. However, the mismatch of high visitor volume and low spending limits revenue potential. Digitalization without accommodating foreign tourists’ needs deepens this bottleneck. Experts stress that enabling foreigners to use payment, e-commerce, ticketing, food delivery, ride-hailing, and retail services on par with domestic consumers is essential to convert visitor arrivals into actual consumption.
Export volumes of Chinese cultural goods also reflect inbound interest, with thermos flasks and tea exports valued at 5
billion yuan and 2.7 billion yuan respectively in Q1 2026. Despite the cultural appeal, the limited consumption depth among foreign tourists persists as the main restriction on inbound tourism revenue growth.
