Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) — China celebrates Tourism Day on May 19. China’s inbound tourism sector has shown strong recovery momentum and broad development prospects, said Shi Zeyi, an official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
He expressed this opinion during the recent meeting of the Roundtable on the Chinese Economy, organized by the Xinhua News Agency.
Shi Zeyi recalled that in 2024, China received 132 million inbound tourists, and their tourism expenditure in China reached US$94.2 billion. Both figures were 97.2 percent and 93.5 percent of the same figures recorded in 2019.
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of foreign tourists visiting China was 7.3674 million people, up 39.2 percent from a year earlier, he said.
Since the beginning of 2025, the number of foreigners coming to China has continued to grow rapidly. In the first quarter, about 7.7 million foreigners entered the country, up nearly 40 percent year-on-year. Notably, nearly 70 percent of them arrived visa-free, said Liu Jia, an official with the State Immigration Administration of China who also attended the roundtable.
China currently provides one-way visa-free entry for citizens of 38 countries. In addition, the visa-free transit period for passport holders of 54 countries has been extended to 240 hours. “All these policies are part of our country’s visa-free policy system,” Liu Jia said.
As more foreign nationals visit China and have wonderful travel experiences, the consumer market potential for inbound tourism in the country will continue to grow, Liu Jia added. -0-