BEIJING, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — The sturdy development momentum in overseas arrivals to China has prolonged to the third quarter of 2025, pushed largely by the nation’s continued enlargement of its visa-free entry insurance policies.
From July to September, overseas nationals made 7.246 million visits to China underneath its visa-free insurance policies, marking a 48.3 % year-on-year enhance, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) mentioned on Thursday.
Visa-free entries accounted for 72.2 % of all entries made by overseas nationals, the NIA mentioned.
In current years, China has been regularly increasing its visa-free journey insurance policies for foreigners arriving within the nation. Tourists from 76 nations are actually capable of profit from unilateral or mutual visa-free entry, whereas residents of 55 additional nations can go to China visa-free in transit for as much as 10 days, earlier than touring on to a 3rd vacation spot.
The newest nation added to China’s visa-free arrivals listing is Russia. Since the coverage took impact on Sept. 15, the variety of Russians getting into China has risen notably.
Arriving on the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Russian traveler Anna Ivanova expressed her shock on the swift entry course of. “It only took me about 20 minutes from getting off the plane to completing the entry process. Traveling to China has become very convenient under the visa-free policy,” she mentioned.
During China’s eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival vacation in early October, visa-free journey insurance policies and improved journey facilitation measures fueled an increase in inbound tourism, with nations such because the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States, Russia, Japan and Malaysia among the many high sources of abroad guests, in response to a report from journey platform Trip.com.
As the Korean Chuseok vacation overlapped with China’s eight-day vacation this yr, bookings for journey from the ROK to China for the interval noticed a 200 % spike, and the “flying to China right after work on Friday” tag started trending on social media platforms within the ROK.
Moon Chung-in, a professor emeritus at Seoul’s Yonsei University, mentioned that underneath China’s visa-free journey insurance policies, younger Koreans are being supplied extra alternatives to know China, the Chinese folks and Chinese tradition.
“I hope the Korean side can also relax restrictions, so that the Chinese people can also better understand Korean culture and its people,” he added.
According to the NIA, cross-border journeys made by foreigners surged 21.6 % to 1.43 million through the vacation. A complete of 751,000 foreigners entered China, together with 535,000 who entered underneath visa-free journey insurance policies — year-on-year will increase of 19.8 % and 46.8 %.
Many overseas guests celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival by immersing themselves in Chinese traditions comparable to mooncake preparation, lantern-making and moonlit walks in conventional apparel, experiencing the colourful native ambiance to the fullest potential extent.
“When China opens its doors to foreign tourists, it sends a clear message: Come, see and experience,” mentioned Biljana Vankovskais, a professor of worldwide relations and peace research on the Institute for Security, Defense, and Peace at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in North Macedonia.
In the long run, China will construct on its efforts to facilitate entry by including extra nations to its visa-free arrivals listing, and supply high-quality merchandise, numerous choices and handy companies for extra of its worldwide associates, mentioned a Chinese authorities official.