Major international airports in China are reporting a growing number of inbound and outbound trips in this summer vacation season as the country continues relaxing its visa rules.
The Beijing Daxing International Airport received 78,000 inbound trips from July 1 to August 6, a year-on-year increase of 43.7 percent. Among them, 43,000 trips were made with temporary entry permit and visa-free permit, a year-on-year growth of 98.6 percent.
"It's our first time in China. We have a plan to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu and Guangzhou," said Gabriel Mros, a tourist from Spain.
"With the free visa [policy], we think this is a good opportunity [to come] to know a new special culture, people, landscape," said Mrs Mros.
China has been steadily adjusting and optimizing its visa policies to boost cross-border mobility. Since late 2023, the country has rolled out a series of traveler-friendly measures.
Citizens of 55 countries, including the United States and Canada, can visit China visa-free for up to 10 days in transit, before traveling on to a third destination.
China has also expanded its unilateral visa-free entry and mutual visa exemption program, allowing travelers from 75 countries to stay for up to 30 days.
"We know the visa policy. We had [used] it many times. And we are very happy about the policy as it is now, because it allows us to easily travel to China and even stay here up to a month," said a tourist from the Netherlands.
In Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province, more than 700,000 inbound and outbound trips have been registered since the beginning of this July, growing by 13.3 percent year on year.
Airports in the city have already handled more than 5,000 take-offs and landings, a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent.
The city of Shanghai is also seeing surging inbound and outbound travel in this summer.
In July, its airports saw over 3.67 million inbound and outbound trips, a year-on-year increase of 11.8 percent.
Visa-friendly policies spur inbound travel to China
