China strives to lure foreign tourists, but it's a hard sell for some

Guilherme Carvalho made his first visit to China this month, and the Italian said one of the main factors behind the trip was the post-pandemic policy to scrap entry permits for some tourists.

Previously, all foreign visitors had to go through the onerous process of applying for a Chinese visa. Now, visitors from more than a dozen countries can just fly in, and stay for up to 15 days.

"I didn't expect to feel so safe," said Carvalho, who visited Shanghai. "Everyone is so kind." 

Carvalho is not alone. As the authorities focus on boosting foreign tourism in a bid to revive the economy and perk up sluggish consumer spending, thousands of visitors have flocked to China, encouraged by the visa policies and easier access to its unique digital payment services.

As of June 24, bookings from several countries under the visa policy including France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia and Thailand surged 150% year-on-year, data from China's largest online travel agency Trip.com showed.

Bookings for July and August are also set to be higher.

"We're very excited to see the trend. Lots of people had some misunderstandings about China before they came, but after they arrived, they feel cities like Shanghai are very safe, very clean," said Trip.com CEO Jane Sun.

Since December, China has granted visa-free entry to tourists from several countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Poland.

Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have also struck agreements with Beijing to facilitate visa-free travel.

In the week that China announced visa-free travel for visitors from Australia and New Zealand, sales of tours jumped 133% compared to the previous week, said Yvette Thompson, general manager for sales and marketing for Australia and New Zealand at tour agency Intrepid Travel.

"Coming out of COVID, visas are just another level of complexity for travellers. So to remove that complexity, I think is a good move," she said.

LONG-HAUL RECOVERY

The recent surge in tourism comes after China closed its borders in early 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and kept them shut until the start of 2023.

But even with the visa-free policy boost, far fewer tourists are coming to China now than before the pandemic.

According to official tourism data, China received a total of 49.1 million overseas visitors in 2019, with more than a third coming in for sightseeing and leisure. Revenue from international tourism reached $131.3 billion that year.

In the first half of 2024, the number of foreign nationals entering China was far lower at 14.6 million. Among them, 8.5 million entered visa-free, accounting for just over half of the total, according to the National Immigration Administration.

International tourism revenue data for China has not been published since 2019.

Travel agents say they are hopeful next year will bring in more foreign tourists as global demand for travel, and flight schedules, recover further to pre-pandemic levels.

However, China needs to do more than just waive visas to encourage foreigners, experts say.

Geopolitical tensions, a government that tolerates no dissent and China's sometimes belligerent portrayal in some Western media have kept some tourists away. Last month, two separate knife attacks on foreigners also sparked security concerns.

China must also compete for attention with Japan, which is experiencing a boom in tourism thanks to its weak yen.

"The more that we talk around the reasons to go to China - the diverse landscapes, the history, the difference between imperial Beijing versus futuristic Shanghai - I think the faster that negative PR dissipates," travel agent Thomson said.

Another potential hurdle for foreigners is China's vast digital infrastructure.

Paying for everything from transport tickets to restaurant bookings to tourist site admissions is done via QR codes linked to local payment apps such as WeChat and Alipay, making daily interactions difficult for holders of foreign bank cards.

China has allowed foreign bank cards to be linked to Alipay and WeChat, but the system and language barriers remain daunting.

"I can't imagine how a foreigner who doesn't have Chinese payment tools and doesn't speak the language can deal with all this," said Liang Hongling, a Chinese scholar living in Glasgow and who plans to travel with her Irish husband to her hometown in Xinjiang this month.