Inbound tourism booms with approaching New Year's Day holiday

China's tourism market continues to heat up with more than 320,000 inbound flight tickets already booked for the 2026 New Year's Day holiday from Thursday to Saturday.

In November, China announced that it would expand its 240-hour visa-free transit program to more ports, and extend its unilateral visa-exemption arrangements for more than 40 countries to Dec 31, 2026, in the country's latest move to further open up to the world.

According to Umetrip, a Chinese travel-related mobile service provider, over 320,000 tickets for inbound flights during the three-day New Year's Day holiday have been sold as of December 25, representing an increase of approximately 11 percent compared with the same period last year.

An increasing number of overseas tourists are opting for in-depth China tours. To date, bookings for domestic flights from Spain and Italy have grown significantly, eight times and four times the figures for the same period last year, respectively.

"It's (Alipay) the easiest one to pay, to buy something in China. It's great. Even for elderly people, it's so simple and I like this very much," said a German traveler, who told of convenience of Alipay, a leading open platform for payments and digital services in China.

"I think it's pretty good because Thailand and China are like very close together and it's very good because it attracts tourists and it's a very boost to the travel things in tourism, yes, in the two countries," said a traveler from Thailand, which has a mutual visa exemption agreement with China.

Beijing Capital International Airport, which handles air routes to 225 destinations in 57 countries and regions, continues to upgrade its hub connectivity and has partnered with airlines to launch more service products for transit passengers.

"Next year, the capital airport will add more routes and destinations to Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Tashkent, Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, and Africa to further enrich our transit products via the capital and promote cross-border linkage of transit and inbound tourism," said Kong Xin, manager of aviation development business under Beijing Capital International Airport.

Inbound tourism booms with approaching New Year's Day holiday

China's southeastern coastal city of Xiamen has handled a record number of cross-border passengers this year, local immigration authority said on Saturday.

As of 19:00 on Saturday, ports across Xiamen, Fujian Province had recorded more than 6 million inbound and outbound travelers, an increase of nearly 20 percent year on year, according to data from the Gaoqi Branch of Xiamen General Immigration Inspection Station.

Xiamen has become a popular destination for foreign tourists for vacation, leisure, business and other activities, as the campaign of "China Travel" has grown popular among international travelers this year.

Xiamen ports have handled over 1.1 million foreign entries and exits. Among them, nearly 380,000 were beneficiaries of the visa-free policy or 240-hour visa-free transit, marking a growth of nearly 35 percent from last year.

"[I will stay in China for] two months. I think maybe shopping or something exciting, maybe. I think it's a nice country. A lot of things you can buy here, nice things. I think every people is very nice," said Chris, a tourist from the Netherlands.

Xiamen handles record cross-border travelers