China aims to attract 190 million inbound tourist visits a year by 2030

BEIJING (Xinhua) – China aims to attract 190 million inbound tourist visits a year by 2030, according to a new five-year tourism development plan, signaling the country’s expanding efforts to draw overseas visitors as it seeks to boost consumption and deepen international exchanges.

The plan, approved by the State Council, targets inbound tourism spending of more than 150 billion U.S. dollars annually by 2030, while calling for higher-quality tourism services and a stronger global presence for China’s tourism industry.

To help meet these goals, China will further streamline services for inbound visitors throughout their journeys in the country.

The plan calls for expanding the visa-free entry program and increasing international air and rail connections, while enhancing convenience in payment, transportation, communications and accommodation as well as optimizing tax refund procedures. Multilingual visitor services are also expected to improve via better training for foreign-language tour guides and wider use of AI-powered translation devices.

It also envisions a nationwide inbound tourism network centered on international consumption hubs and major gateway cities, and aims to develop more shopping clusters suited to visitors from overseas.

The new targets build on a strong rebound in inbound tourism following China’s expansion of visa-free entry and transit policies, as well as improvements in travel services.

China now offers unilateral visa-free entry to nationals of 50 countries and has expanded its 240-hour visa-free transit program to 65 entry ports.

In 2025, the country recorded more than 150 million inbound tourist visits, up over 17 percent from a year earlier. Spending by inbound travelers surpassed 130 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, an increase of nearly 40 percent year on year.

The 2030 goals of 190 million annual inbound tourist visits and 150 billion U.S. dollars in annual inbound tourism spending would mark increases of about 26 percent and 15 percent, respectively, from the 2025 levels, reflecting expectations for continued growth in international travel.

Observers noted that China’s ambitions are underpinned by a combination of strengths, including its rich cultural heritage, abundant natural resources, vast market, well-developed infrastructure, stable social environment and growing global influence.

Viewed in the global context, China’s tourism sector has emerged as one of the strongest growth engines of the industry. The country has already built the world’s largest domestic tourism market, and is the world’s largest source of outbound tourists as well as a major global tourism destination.

According to the latest industry data, global tourism expanded by 4.1 percent in 2025, while China’s tourism economy grew by 9.9 percent, more than double the global average.

The tourism plan also sets expanded domestic goals, including 8.3 billion domestic trips and 7.7 trillion yuan (1.13 trillion U.S. dollars) in domestic tourism spending by 2030.

Notably, it is China’s first national tourism blueprint to make inclusive tourism a policy priority, supported by measures such as barrier-free facilities and tailored travel offerings for elderly travelers.

Zeng Bowei, director of the research center for China’s tourism economy and policy at Beijing Union University, said the plan not only responds to the practical needs of travelers, like improvements against scarce parking and inefficient reservation systems, but also calls for integrating efforts to improve people’s well-being with measures to boost consumption.

Smart tourism will be a defining theme of the sector’s upgrade over the next five years, with emphasis on the development of tourism-related technologies and initiatives to upgrade intelligent service capabilities.

The plan also further enshrines green development throughout tourism planning, development and operations, to unlock greater economic and social value from ecological assets.

Additionally, it highlights the deep integration of culture with tourism to leverage cultural resources and enrich visitors’ experiences, alongside stronger cross-industry collaboration aimed at extending industrial value chains and fostering emerging growth engines.

July 15 , 2026

Photo : Tourists in Hong Kong ( Travel Biz News )