This summer, the inbound tourism market continued to boom, with more and more foreign tourists immersing themselves in the authentic China. Data from online travel platform Qunar shows that in July this year, inbound tourism bookings increased by more than 20% year-on-year.

Foreign tourists experience Meituan drone delivery at Shenzhen Talent Park (August 3). Photo by Liang Xu, Xinhua News Agency.

From "China Travel" to "China Cool" and then to "Chinamaxxing," these journeys across mountains and seas are shifting from superficial sightseeing to immersive and diversified in-depth cultural and tourism experiences.

New ways to enjoy inbound tourism

Extreme heatwaves have recently hit many parts of the world, with temperatures soaring in several European countries. A large number of overseas tourists have opted to fly directly to China to experience firsthand the freedom of air conditioning throughout the country and the natural coolness of its mountains and rivers.

From the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the forests of Northeast China, from seaside resorts to mountain valleys, my country's diverse summer resort resources offer overseas tourists plenty of "cool options."

Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, maintains a temperature of 22°C to 26°C year-round at an altitude of over 1,500 meters, resembling a natural air-conditioned room. Since the start of the summer season, the scenic area has been receiving an average of about 2,200 foreign tourists per day, an increase of over 50% year-on-year. Marino, an Italian tourist, came to China with friends to escape the heat due to the continuous high temperatures in his hometown. He remarked, "Enjoying the breeze amidst the mountains and rivers, and being able to buy chilled drinks while resting on the mountain—these kinds of details are rarely seen in Europe."

In recent years, inbound tourists have gradually moved away from the rushed, "check-off" approach to sightseeing and embraced a more relaxed "slow-paced" experience. The head of Suzhou Heping International Travel Agency said that foreign tourists are keen to plan multi-stop itineraries, with a significant increase in the proportion of young independent travelers, more "small town tours" and "rural tours," and longer stays.

Dutch tourist Noah recently embarked on a self-guided trip to Nanjing, where he and his friends visited various farmers' markets and matchmaking corners in parks to experience local life. "Many of the vegetables here are things I don't see in my hometown, it's very interesting!"

Visiting wineries in Ningxia's wine region, learning porcelain making in Jingdezhen, and "hand-rubbing" spicy soup soap in Zhengzhou have become favorite activities for many inbound tourists.

"Seeing medical treatment in China while traveling" has become a hot topic. The Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in Hainan has seen a significant increase in overseas medical tourists this year, with visitors coming from nearly 20 countries and regions. Tianjin has launched nine boutique inbound tourism routes focusing on traditional Chinese medicine, forming a closed-loop consumption model integrating sightseeing, cultural experiences, TCM wellness, product consumption, and study tours.

Tech tourism continues to be a hot trend. In Nianhua Bay, Wuxi, Jiangsu, thousands of drones took to the air, creating a flowing audiovisual feast with light, water mist, and holographic projections. British tourist Ellis stopped and exclaimed, "It's like a science fiction movie!"

Some online platforms have also launched customized science and technology study tours for overseas tourists, adding visits and interactive content on domestic "science and technology specialties" such as artificial intelligence (AI), robots, autonomous driving, and brain-computer interfaces.

How to continuously attract fans?

Visa-free policies have become a major factor driving the growth of inbound tourism. In the first half of this year, 17.815 million foreigners entered the country visa-free, an increase of 30.6% year-on-year. The expansion of the policy has led to a reshaping of the foreign tourist source structure. The long-tail effect of traditional major tourist source markets such as South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia is significant, while the popularity of tourists from Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America continues to rise.

In May of this year, six departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued a notice on strengthening and optimizing tax refund measures for departing tourists to expand inbound consumption. This policy, dubbed "Tax Refund 2.0," integrates several innovative measures, including expanding the number of tax refund shops, paperless tax refund processing, and optimizing "instant refund upon purchase" services, to further stimulate the "buy-and-get-refund" consumption behavior of foreign tourists.

The positive word-of-mouth effect of "The Real China" is gradually expanding. On overseas social media platforms, the hashtag "#ChinaTravel" has accumulated over 28 billion views, and related hashtags such as "#Chinamaxxing" have exceeded 4 billion views. Some amateur bloggers have been filming Chinese night markets and showing off prices, with one video documenting "$9.40 a day's expenses" unexpectedly garnering millions of views overseas.

“Nowadays, many foreign tourists are venturing into city streets and rural fields to experience authentic Chinese life. From the city’s night economy to rural revitalization, a three-dimensional, vibrant, and down-to-earth national image is being conveyed to the world through the perspective of tourists,” said Wu Guoping, president of the Wuxi Tourism Association.

China's rapid economic and social development is reshaping the tourism ecosystem. Zhou Zhanfeng, Director of the European Market Department of the Inbound Tourism Division of China International Travel Service, said that many foreign tourists have expressed a desire to visit electric vehicle factories and internet technology companies. "They hope to explore these well-known technology companies and understand China's technological strength. 'Made in China' products going global are adding new appeal to inbound tourism."

Air conditioning is widely available in Chinese cities and towns, from hotels to shopping malls, from subways to taxis. What many Chinese people take for granted in their daily lives has become a "future lifestyle" captured by foreign tourists.

In addition, supporting services are continuously being upgraded. Faced with rising visitor numbers, many scenic spots have launched AI-powered intelligent tourism systems that support real-time multilingual interaction. The "internal binding of external cards" and "internal use of outsourced services" capabilities of mobile payment platforms are also constantly evolving. Some scenic spots in Wuxi have also launched convenient international express delivery service points, allowing overseas tourists to directly ship their purchased goods worldwide.

This will encourage more repeat customers.

Inbound tourism helps showcase a real, multifaceted, and diverse China to the world and is also an important growth market for expanding domestic demand. The "15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Tourism Powerhouse" proposes that by 2030, the number of inbound tourists will reach 190 million, with total spending exceeding US$150 billion.

How can we precisely target and continuously tap into the potential of inbound tourism? Lu Yongmei, Director of Greater China at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), believes that international tourists prefer regions with distinctive cultural characteristics and ecological features. A strategy of "leading with major IPs and linking with smaller IPs" can be implemented to form a world-class tourism regional matrix. At the same time, the advantages of high-speed rail—"fast in, slow out"—should be strengthened, and more intercity connecting travel products should be designed to extend tourists' stay and increase the frequency of their spending.

Zhao Hongyu, director of the Inbound Tourism Research Institute of China Tourism Group, pointed out that the core competitiveness of inbound tourism lies in "destination characteristics + local cultural elements + immersive lifestyle". "On the one hand, we can actively expand distinctive cultural tourism formats, and on the other hand, we can build a regional inbound tourism collaborative development pattern, such as the Yangtze River Delta city cluster and key tourist cities along the Yangtze River can work together in depth."

Experts say that the current inbound tourism market is experiencing an increasingly diverse customer base and evolving tourist demands. Tourist destinations should develop a precise matching and tiered operational system to address these needs. Feedback from a small number of foreign tourists indicates that pain points remain in areas such as information access, payment settlement, language services, and internet communication during inbound tourism. Therefore, it is crucial to enhance the tourism industry's ability to adapt to international demands.

To this end, Wu Guoping suggested further developing a convenient supporting service system, building a multilingual internet platform to support refined consumption, and providing one-click access to services such as transportation, accommodation, catering, shopping, and attractions. In addition, he recommended continuing to improve services such as mobile payment, digital navigation, and mobile toilets to create a safe consumption environment and cultivate a positive reputation for inbound tourism.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

Foreign tourists experience Meituan drone delivery at Shenzhen Talent Park (August 3). Photo by Liang Xu, Xinhua News Agency.