Beijing has seen a boom of inbound tourism in the current summer holiday season, as the city has rolled out tour packages highlighting local culture and history for foreign travelers.
China continues to implement its relaxed visa policy, significantly boosting inbound travel. In the first half of 2025, Beijing, a major port of entry in China, handled over 2.9 million entries and exits of foreigners, representing 29 percent of the total number of cross-border travels, up 36.5 percent year on year.
From July 1 to 10, the ports in Beijing handled over 640,000 entries and exits of travelers, including 171,000 by foreigners, up 22.1 percent year on year.
The Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection has introduced new applications, and designated specific areas and channels to improve its work efficiency.
"The Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection has developed eight applications that offer services such as automated online collection of travelers' information and prediction of flight and passenger flows. As a result, the customs clearance efficiency for foreign travelers has increased by 30 percent. We've also set up specific areas for the issuance of temporary entry permits, and added 11 channels [for temporary entries]. The efficiency of issuing temporary entry permits has increased by 60 percent," said Yin Li, an officer with the general station.
At present, China's unilateral visa-free policy has applied to 47 other countries, while its 240-hour visa-free transit policy has applied to 55 other countries.
As the summer holiday season unfolds, Beijing has seen a surge in study tours and family tours by travelers from overseas.
Leveraging the city's rich historical and cultural resources, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism has designated 10 routes for study tours, featuring themes such as opera, intangible cultural heritage, geology and archaeology, and natural discovery.
It has also opened six other tour routes for inbound travelers, highlighting history and culture, nature and ecology, science and technology, theme parks, cultural heritage and craftsmanship, and Olympic heritage.
"I really like the trip. I went to the south of China. We saw a lot of monuments, cultural monuments and nature. Chinese nature is really beautiful," said a French tourist.
"Beautiful roads, new cars, everything [is] good and very [silent]. Electric cars are nice," said a German tourist.
Beijing embraces summer tourism boom with new cultural tour packages
