China registered 150 million tourist arrivals by October 2026, with inbound tourism totaling 154.5 million person-times in 2025. Despite high volume, the average per capita tourist spending was $357.3 in 2025, only 29.1% of the global average, revealing a major constraint on tourism revenue growth.
Visa-free policies substantially fueled inbound tourism growth. By the third quarter of 2026, 8.992 million foreigners entered China under visa-free schemes, accounting for 77.5% of inbound tourists, marking a 24.1% year-on-year rise. As of August 20, 2026, China expanded visa-free transit policies to 57 countries for 240-hour stays and granted 30-day visa-free entry to 61
nations for Hainan province. The Russian visa-free policy was extended to December 31, 2027, while policies for 48 other countries remain valid until December 31, 2026.
Consumption Challenges Limit Tourism Revenue
The main obstacles restraining inbound tourism revenue are short length of stay and insufficient consumption depth. Xu Peng, Vice Chairman of the World Tourism Alliance, identified the structural contradiction of large visitor volume but low spending. While arrivals and consumption increased by 49.72% and 44.01% respectively in the first half of 2026, spending growth still lags behind visitor numbers.
Typical tourist expenditures focus on low-cost activities like metro rides, shared bicycles, inexpensive local foods
such as jianbing and zhajiangmian, alongside coffee chains. Premium travel services connecting multiple activities, such as high-quality guided tours, cost around 3,000 yuan per person for two days, considered medium-priced in the market.
Digital Barriers Hamper Tourist Spending
Digital payment and service systems designed primarily for domestic users pose major challenges. Foreign visitors frequently struggle with multiple QR codes needed for payments and public transport, causing delays. Language switches in digital apps from English to Chinese further complicate usage, seen in difficulties with ride-hailing apps like Didi and shared bicycle rentals.
Technical obstacles encompass mobile payments, overseas bank card acceptance, e-commerce platforms, local lifestyle services,
online reservation procedures, identity verification, and Chinese language interfaces. Expert Lai Yang stressed that internationalization requires enabling foreign tourists to use these services as seamlessly as domestic consumers to unlock inbound consumption potential.
Government Efforts to Boost Tourism Consumption
In March 2026, nine Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued policy guidelines to promote inbound consumption and travel service exports. These policies seek to improve data interconnectivity across regions, enhance digital services for overseas visitors, and expand precise global marketing.
Li Jun, director of the Institute of International Trade in Services of the Chinese Academy of Commerce, underlined the strategic importance of inbound tourism
in advancing the nation’s new development framework, opening-up, and consumption upgrade, though large tourist numbers have yet to fully translate into revenue gains. Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun highlighted the visa-free policy as the primary growth driver, marking the entry of China’s inbound tourism into a strategic market valued at trillions of yuan.
Cultural Trends Shape Tourist Behavior
A growing trend among foreign tourists is the imitation of Chinese lifestyle practices, labeled as “Becoming Chinese” or “China Maxxing.” This affects itinerary choices but only modestly increases spending. Tourists commonly purchase affordable cultural products such as thermos flasks and goji berries.
The General Administration of Customs
reported that in the first quarter of 2026, export volumes for thermos flasks reached 5 billion yuan and tea reached 2.7 billion yuan, stimulated by cultural demand. Despite these shifts, inbound tourist consumption remains weighted toward low-cost experiences rather than high-value expenditures.
