China's tourism sector records over 150% visitors in mid-2024
China appears to be rebounding from pandemic-related challenges, with a more than 150% increase in foreign visitors between January and June 2024.
Chinese government statistics reveal that between January and June of this year, 287 million people entered and exited China. Among them, 29.2 million were foreigners, accounting for about 10% of the total, with only 8.5 million utilising visa-free entry.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian attributes these numbers to the availability of visa-free entries.
“As more and more countries benefit from the visa-free policy and as China adopts more measures to ease cross-border travel, ‘on-a-whim travel’ to China is becoming a reality,” Lin said when asked by reporters last week.
Despite the increase, foreign visitors remain far below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, China welcomed approximately 145.3 million international arrivals. In stark contrast, the first half of 2024 saw only 29.2 million foreign visitors. This figure is roughly a third of the 2019 numbers, underscoring the long road to full recovery.
Tourism experts and observers who spoke with VOA note that China's challenging political climate, lingering post-pandemic safety concerns, and the high cost of long-distance travel continue to deter foreign tourists from visiting the country.
However, China remains relentless, as it has extended the 15-day visa-free entry to travellers from New Zealand and Australia since July 1. The country also has a 144-hour transit visa-free policy for 54 countries.
