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In the early months of 2025, China's international tourism landscape recovered strongly and impressively, with a surge in visitor numbers in the first quarter. The main driving force behind this resurgence came from a series of bold open-door policies and attractive visa exemption incentives implemented by the Chinese government.
From luxury cruises and bustling intercontinental flights to vibrant cross-border travel by land, the influx of international visitors to lively coastal cities and bustling border regions has reached record numbers, far exceeding any statistics since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
International tourist arrivals to China are expected to see explosive growth in the first quarter of 2025.
One of the key drivers of this growth is the special visa-free entry policy for foreign tourists arriving in China by cruise ship, organized by domestic travel companies. This policy, effective from May 15, 2024, and applicable to 13 key international seaports, has breathed new life into the cruise tourism segment. After nearly a year of implementation, its effectiveness is evident, creating a breakthrough in growth for China's cruise tourism industry.
This is thanks to a series of open-door policies and visa exemption incentives.
For example, in the vibrant city of Xiamen, five international cruise ships docked in the first quarter of 2025, welcoming nearly 3,000 tourists from around the world. Notably, more than 30% of these tourists subsequently continued their exploration further into inland China, traveling to other provinces and cities through inland border crossings, demonstrating the strong impact of this policy.
Not only Xiamen, but other bustling coastal cities like Shenzhen and Qingdao have also recorded a surge in international tourists. In particular, on April 10th, Qingdao cruise port reached a memorable milestone with over 10,000 arrivals and departures in a single day, breaking all records since the port opened in 2015.
Besides sea tourism, the visa-free policy for citizens from important neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea has also transformed Shandong province into an attractive international "check-in destination". In the first quarter of 2025, as many as 84,000 South Korean tourists entered Shandong without a visa, accounting for more than 83% of the total number of foreign visitors entering China under the visa-free scheme, demonstrating the strong appeal of this policy to the East Asian tourism market.
Foreign tourists arriving in China by cruise ship, organized by domestic travel companies, are exempt from visa requirements at 13 international seaports.
Meanwhile, cross-border tourism has also become extremely vibrant in border provinces such as Yunnan and Guangxi. In Yunnan, thanks to a special visa exemption policy for tourist groups from ASEAN countries through the Jinghong (Xishuangbanna) border crossing, this year's traditional Water Festival attracted tens of thousands of tourists from Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. At the Mohuan border crossing alone, the number of tourists peaked at nearly 9,300 per day, a new record, demonstrating the effectiveness of policies facilitating regional tourism.
These open and favorable policies for international tourists not only boost the tourism industry but also have positive ripple effects on many other sectors of the economy. The increase in tourist numbers has stimulated domestic consumption, generating significant growth for service industries such as hotels, restaurants, and transportation. At the same time, these efforts have also contributed to affirming China's increasingly important role as a promising emerging international tourism hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
These open policies not only boost tourism but also stimulate domestic consumption and growth in the hotel industry.
With the launch of numerous new international cruise routes, the organization of unique cultural festivals across the country, and increasingly streamlined and convenient immigration procedures, China's tourism industry is expected to continue its strong growth momentum in the summer and the second quarter of 2025. The recovery and development of the tourism industry will not only bring tangible economic benefits but also make a significant contribution to strengthening cultural exchanges and people-to-people diplomacy between China and countries around the world after the severe impacts of the pandemic.
