China's inbound tourism surges during May Day holiday

China

China's inbound tourism surges during May Day holiday

2025-05-06 14:00 Last Updated At：15:37

China's inbound tourism is experiencing a remarkable upswing, with international arrivals surging 40.2 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2025.

This growth has been further fueled by relaxed visa policies and enhanced travel convenience, leading to an influx of visitors from abroad during the just-ended May Day holiday.

In the first four days of the May Day holiday, China welcomed 35,000 inbound travelers, up 78 percent from the previous year. Among them 57 percent, or 20,000 travelers, benefited from visa-free entry policies, more than doubling last year's figures.

The border checkpoint at Mohan, a port in southwest China's Yunnan Province, recorded over 27,000 inbound and outbound travelers in the first four days of the five-day holiday. Among them nearly 11,000 were foreign nationals, up 27 percent year on year.

"The group I'm serving today consists of 31 guests from Vietnam. This year, the number of Vietnamese visitors traveling to Yunnan has more than doubled compared with last year," said Wang Jinjian, a tour guide.

China's new instant tax refund policy, launched in April, has fueled a shopping spree of international visitors who are snapping up souvenirs, snacks, and even electronics like smartphones.

"I came here for traveling. I bought a car for my kid. [It is ] amazing. You get mad. You get crazy with every kind of products. They are really interesting and amazing," said Paulo, a tourist from Argentina.

Beijing's tax-refund sales doubled to 270 million yuan in the first quarter, while the figure for Shanghai hit 760 million yuan, up 85 percent year on year.

Shanghai is now home to 587 tax-refund stores, with 284 offering instant refunds.

Beyond classic gifts like tea and silk, custom-made qipaos, a traditional Chinese dress, are getting popular.

From time-honored brands to hip local products, tax-free shops are stocking up on traditional crafts and smart gadgets, topping foreign visitors' shopping lists.

Chinese customs strengthen intellectual property rights protection

Chinese customs have stepped up efforts to register intellectual property rights (IPR) and crack down on infringing goods, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Thursday.

In 2025, Chinese customs seized 86.42 million pieces of goods infringing IPR and approved 35,200 registration applications for customs IPR protection, Lin Shaobin, head of the GAC's general operations department, told a press conference in Beijing, noting that both figures posted record-high growth.

"In the first quarter of 2026, we approved 6,901 IPR filings, continuing the positive trend and achieving a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan period," Lin said.

Regarding cross-region law enforcement cooperation among Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administration Regions, the GAC said that the three regions, given their huge volume of trade in goods, conducted three rounds of joint IPR protection operations in 2025, focusing on trendy toys, apparel, footwear, hats, and electronic products.

The GAC has paid equal attention to domestic and foreign brands in IPR protection. In 2025, IPR holders from 57 countries and regions had their rights and interests safeguarded by the Chinese customs, according to Lin.

"We occasionally invite IPR holders to teach our grassroots customs officers how to distinguish between authentic and counterfeit goods, to ensure that we can accurately identify these products and provide accurate services to them. These services are offered equally to Chinese and foreign companies," Lin said.