China preps for inbound Lunar New Year travel surge after visa-free expansion

Inbound travel to China is expected to increase significantly over the coming Lunar New Year holiday, driven by the country’s expansion of its visa-free entry list and other efforts to attract international visitors and revitalise its tourism sector.

According to Trip.com, a major online platform for tourism bookings in the country, total inbound travel purchases for the period – which runs from January 28 to February 4 this year – have increased by over 200 per cent year on year.

Bookings from South Korea surged by 452 per cent year on year, with Singapore, Japan and the United States also well-represented on the list of inbound travellers’ countries of origin.

“The newly implemented visa-free policy for South Korean travellers has been particularly significant, drawing large numbers of Korean tourists to destinations like Harbin, Chengdu and Shanghai,” the platform said in a statement.

This was a 33.6 per cent year-on-year increase according to the National Immigration Administration, and outpaced the 11.1 per cent growth in total trips made by mainland Chinese travellers and 12.8 per cent growth in trips made by residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

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