Asian tourists’ spending surpasses that of the US and Germany

The number of foreign tourists to China grew 130 percent year-on-year between January and July this year, according to China’s National Immigration Administration. Just over 17 million people crossed the country in the first seven months of the year, still far from the figure of 49.1 million visitors who arrived in the country in 2019.

As part of its policies to stimulate the sector, which was closed until the first quarter of last year, China stopped requiring visas in December for tourists from several countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Poland. The same has been true for some countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

The most visited sites are the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Army, the Summer Palace, the Li River, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze River, the Suzhou Gardens, the Potala Palace and the Shanghai Bund.

On the other hand, it is also one of the largest buyers of tourism services. According to a report by the United Nations, Chinese spending on outbound travel will reach $196.5 billion in 2023, ahead of the United States ($150 billion), Germany ($112 billion) and the United Kingdom ($110 billion).