Tourists dressed in traditional Chinese attire take photos at the Forbidden City in Beijing on May 8, 2025. Photo: VCG

The total number of international flights during this year's summer vacationing time approaches pre-pandemic level in 2019, with air flights to countries like the Maldives and Switzerland increasing by over 50 percent year-on-year, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed on Monday.

The data came as the tourism industry is witnessing a robust recovery, buoyed by rising demand from global travelers. 

CAAC said the number of countries served by international passenger routes has now increased to 80, with passenger flight volume from January to August growing by over 20 percent year-on-year. 

During the summer vacationing time, passenger flights further increased. From July 1 to August 31, a total of 123,000 international passenger flights were operated by Chinese and overseas airlines, averaging nearly 2,000 flights per day. 

Flights peaked in early August, with approximately 2,100 international passenger flights operating daily, and the peak weekly flights reached about 93 percent of the 2019 level.

In terms of popular destinations, cross-border travel hotspots concentrated in traditional tourist destination markets in East Asia and Southeast Asia. 

Countries such as Vietnam and South Korea saw an average daily increase of over 20 flights year-on-year, while Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, and Malaysia experienced an average daily increase of over 10 flights. 

Some emerging markets and long-haul destinations in South Asia, Central and West Asia, and Europe also saw significant growth. 

Flights to countries like the Maldives, Switzerland, and Sri Lanka increased by more than 50 percent year-on-year, while flights to Spain, Azerbaijan, Brunei, and Greece grew by over 30 percent year-on-year.

Responding to the booming demand for outbound travel, China Eastern Airlines said on Monday that it has launched new international routes, including the Shanghai Pudong-Geneva route, starting on June 16, the Shanghai Pudong-Milan route, launched on June 20, and the Shanghai-Copenhagen route, which opened on July 17. 

China Eastern Airlines has increased flights to popular tourist destinations in Europe, the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and North Africa. The airline currently operates 229 international and regional flights, with an average of 3,052 round-trip international and regional flights per week.

Regarding passenger demographics, with the continuous optimization of policies such as visa-free entry, tax refunds for departures, and improvements in payment and travel convenience, as well as enhanced efficiency in immigration and transit processes at international hub airports, the number of foreign nationals entering China during this year's summer saw a notable growth, CAAC said.

Among them, passenger arrivals from visa-exempt countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain increased by over 50 percent year-on-year, while arrivals from Russia, South Korea, Kuwait, Hungary, Poland, and Bahrain grew by over 30 percent. Additionally, passenger arrivals from neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan also saw significant growth.

CAAC said that a total of 147 million passenger trips were made during this year's summer travel season, with a daily average of 2.37 million, up 3.6 percent year-on-year. On August 15, the number of passenger trips reached 2.56 million, setting a new daily record.

And, more overseas tourists are flocking to China, exploring both major cities and hidden gem towns too.

Data from Qunar.com recently showed that, during this year's summer travel season, flight bookings by foreign tourists covered 144 cities, with the fastest growth in bookings concentrating in some lesser-known towns. For instance, flight bookings to Datong in North China's Shanxi Province surged by 9 times year-over-year, while those to Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang Province rose by 2.6 times.

Global Times