Tourists visit Mount Fanjing, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, in Guizhou Province. China has now unilaterally extended visa-free entry to citizens of 38 countries.
Photographer: Hu Panxue/VCG/Getty Images
China’s Biggest-Ever Bid for Foreign Tourists Is Falling Flat
The billions of dollars in spending that an unprecedented lifting of visa requirements could have brought simply hasn’t materialized.
China took the unprecedented step of easing visa requirements for scores of countries in 2024, now throwing open its doors to 1.9 billion would-be visitors. Only a fraction of the hoped-for tourists have come.
The influx of foreign tourists and the billions of dollars in spending they could have brought simply hasn’t materialized, a Bloomberg analysis shows. Visitors from the US and most of Western Europe — where political and trade spats with Beijing abound — stayed away. Instead, tourists from nearby Asian countries and less-developed markets came calling.