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Foreign tourists visit Tian 'anmen Square in Beijing on January 22, 2025. Photo: VCG

 
The popularity of the already vibrant “China Travel” has been gaining momentum as Spring Festival is right around the corner amid the country’s continuous efforts to relax its visa-free policies. 

As of Sunday, the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection has witnessed more than 130,000 foreigners entering China since the beginning of the Spring Festival rush on January 14, with 75,000 foreign nationals entering visa-free and accounting for 57.3 percent of the total foreign entries. The top five countries for visa-free entries are South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Australia and Malaysia, the Paper.cn reported on Monday. 

Meanwhile, nearly 143,000 foreign nationals arrived in Beijing as of Saturday in 2025, increasing by 46 percent year-on-year, with tourism and leisure, conference and business, and visiting friends and relatives being the most important reasons for entering China, according to the Beijing Daily on Monday.

Currently, the number of domestic flights booked with non-Chinese passport holders during the Spring Festival holiday has increased by 70 percent compared to last year, with South Korea, the US, Australia, Malaysia, and Canada being the top five countries, according to data sent to the Global Times from Qunar, a major Chinese online travel agency, on Monday. 

Based on the Qunar data, the top 10 Chinese cities favored by foreign travelers are Beijing, Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Kunming in Yunnan Province, Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province and Haikou in Hainan Province.

An online ride-hailing driver surnamed Zhang from Chongqing told the Global Times that he and his colleagues have seen a growing number of foreign travelers using their services recently.

The inbound tour orders for Spring Festival holidays on another Chinese online travel platform Trip.com surged by 203 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the company. 

Beijing remained a top pick for global visitors, with a 185 percent increase in inbound arrivals in 2024 as the tourists majorly came from Singapore, South Korea, the US, Russia and Thailand, Trip.com told the Global Times on Monday. The Universal Studios Beijing, the Great Wall at Badaling, the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, the Palace Museum, and the Summer Palace have been the most popular scenic spots. 

In addition, famous Chinese historical and cultural cities such as Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Luoyang in Central China's Henan Province, and Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province are also gaining growing momentum, Chinese travel agency Tongcheng Travel Holdings said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday. 

Since the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush, Xi'an's port has welcomed more than 3,100 inbound foreign visitors, marking a 187 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Among them, over 1,800 availed of the visa-free policies, while more than 360 took advantage of the 240-hour visa-free transit option, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Moving forward, inbound tourism is expected to recover more rapidly in 2025 while the demand from the markets in North America, Japan and Europe will likely further pick up, Xu Xiaolei, a marketing manager from CYTS Tours Holding Co, told the Global Times on Monday.