Foreign tourists dressed in ancient Chinese clothing pose for photos at the Palace Museum in Beijing on April 1, 2026. Photo: VCG

From "China Travel" to "China Shopping," flight bookings by foreign visitors to Yiwu, known as the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities, rose 62 percent year-on-year in the first half. Meanwhile, Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics market ranked among the top 10 most popular business districts for hotel bookings by international tourists, according to data that a travel platform sent to the Global Times on Sunday.

Foreign travelers are venturing deeper into China, with their footprints spanning nearly 5,000 kilometers, from Heihe on the Russian border in the north to Sanya on the tropical coast in the south, and from Jiamusi in the east to Kashi in the west. According to Qunar data, inbound flights booked by non-Chinese passport holders covered 160 cities as of June 30.

In addition to the sustained growth of leading inbound cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, inbound flight bookings in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality rose 30 percent year-on-year.

In terms of source markets, inbound tourists on Qunar's platform in the first half of 2026 came from 575 cities across 158 countries and regions, with 11 new countries added compared with the same period last year. 

The data also showed that tourists from partner countries of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative saw the fastest growth, with arrivals from Mongolia increasing 1.5 times year-on-year and those from Uzbekistan rising 1.2 times. European tourists, who tend to stay longer and spend more, also continued to grow. Visitors from Milan, Italy, increased by nearly 70 percent year-on-year, while those from Madrid, Spain, rose by more than 50 percent.

The data was in line with official figures. China processed a record 369 million cross-border trips in the first half of 2026, up 10.8 percent year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration on Friday. 

Among them, foreign nationals accounted for 45.906 million trips, up 20.6 percent year-on-year. Visa-free entries by foreign nationals reached 17.815 million, accounting for 77.7 percent of all inbound foreign arrivals, up 30.6 percent year-on-year.

The top 10 source countries for inbound foreign travelers to China were South Korea, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the US, Japan, Mongolia and Australia, accounting for 62 percent of all foreign arrivals.

Global Times