Friendly travel policies push inbound tourism surge

Convenience key

To ensure the recovery continues, tourism officials will launch a series of targeted measures to remedy existing problems in the market.

On March 29, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said at a news conference it will make it easier for payments at various places such as tourist attractions, cultural and performance venues and star-rated hotels. Inbound tourism products and services will also be stepped up, along with overseas promotions, to better meet inbound travelers' needs.

Wu Kefeng, deputy head of the ministry's Department of Resource Development, said special emphasis was being placed on improving the convenience of payments at key tourist destinations.

This includes promoting the establishment of software and hardware facilities for accepting mobile payments, bank cards, and cash at all national 5A and 4A tourist attractions, national and provincial tourist resorts, and national-level tourist leisure districts, Wu said.

The ministry said it will cooperate with the relevant departments to promote the establishment of foreign-currency exchange service points at tourist resorts and national-level tourist leisure districts with a high number of inbound tourists. It will also encourage nearby bank branches to provide foreign-currency cash exchange services to meet the needs of inbound tourists.

All tourist attractions will retain staffed windows to offer ticket services for inbound travelers, while English-language online reservations will also be available.

"For reservations requiring real-name authentication, foreign passports, permanent residence identity cards, and travel permits for residents of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan to the Chinese mainland will be included in the recognized identification documents," Wu said.

Key tourist attractions will also be encouraged to improve multilingual signage and guide facilities, and to continue improving their foreign-language services.