Int'l visitors enjoy 'very Chinese time' in New Year traveling, shopping

Policy Boost

The growing popularity of "China Travel" and "China Shopping" is fueled by sustained efforts to expand visa-free policies and facilitate inbound travel.

Last year, China expanded its unilateral visa-free access to 48 countries and extended mutual visa exemption agreements to 29 countries. Plus, travelers from 55 countries can take advantage of a 240-hour visa-free transit policy at 65 different entry points. Anastasia Zayats, who comes from Russia and toured Sanya City in Hainan, said the visa-free policy gave her and her family "more courage to come and see this country."

Data from the National Immigration Administration shows that in 2025, China recorded 30.08 million visa-free entries, accounting for 73.1 percent of the total number of foreign entries, a surge of 49.5 percent compared with 2024.

Making it easier to enter is only half the story; making it easier to shop is the other. As of the end of November 2025, there were 12,252 departure tax refund stores nationwide, with over 7,000 of them offering instant refund services. Tian Ling, who runs a Chinese-style clothing store in Shanghai's Xuhui district, said the policy encourages more international customers to make purchases.

The push for shopping convenience in China is also advancing through finer details. As of September 2025, Alipay's international version had partnered with 40 e-wallets across the Asia-Pacific region, allowing travelers to use their preferred payment apps at over 150 million Chinese merchants. "Scanning a QR code to pay is so much easier than swiping a credit card," said Christine Str?m, a German customer buying a Huawei phone at Beijing's China World Mall.

In early February, multiple government departments jointly issued a policy to significantly enhance digital services for inbound travelers by 2027. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce is supporting 15 cities in pilot projects to build an international consumption environment, with the first batch of 1 billion yuan (about $144 million) recently allocated in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance.

"We will strive to make it more convenient for global consumers to visit, more enjoyable for them to travel, and more affordable for them to shop. So they can experience a more open, inclusive, diverse and innovative China," Vice Commerce Minister Sheng Qiuping said.