China recorded 14.64 million inbound trips made by foreigners in the first half of this year, up 152.7 per cent year on year, following measures introduced since January, the country’s immigration authority announced on Friday.

The measures aim to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals into China for business, education and tourism.

It included expanded visa-free policies, relaxed visa application requirements, simplified procedures, exemption of border checks for certain transit passengers, and more convenient mobile payment for foreigners in China.

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) said at a news conference that the number of visa-free entries made by foreigners exceeded 8.54 million from January to June.

It accounted for 52 per cent of the inbound trips, representing a year-on-year surge of 190.1 per cent.

The NIA said the number of foreigners visiting China was expected to continue rising in the second half of this year.

According to a recent report released by the China Tourism Academy (CTA), the inbound tourism market for foreigners is expected to recover to around 80 per cent of 2019 levels.

Trips by travellers from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the Taiwan region returned to pre-COVID levels.

In the first six months of the year, immigration authorities across China processed 287 million inbound and outbound trips, marking a 70.9 per cent rise year over year.

Among them, around 137 million were made by mainland residents, 121 million were made by residents from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and 29.22 million were made by foreigners.

Figures from the NIA showed that around 12.34 million ordinary passports were issued in the first half of 2024, a 23.2 per cent increase from the same period last year.

The number of documents issued for travel between the mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan grew 7.8 per cent to over 46.15 million.

The number of port visas jumped by 267.9 per cent to 686,000, and 388,000 stay permits and residence permits were issued for foreigners on the mainland.

Liang Xuecheng, a professor at the School of Economics and Management at Northwest University in Xi’an, said the demand for inbound trips to China had increased.

Chinese travellers’ desire for outbound trips is still being unleashed, with facilitating policies expected to further stimulate tourism recovery.

The CTA found in a survey that over 60 per cent of interviewed inbound travellers came to China primarily for a taste of its culture.

Food and shopping also featured highly on the list of attractions.

Tania Medina, a 25-year-old Spanish, just concluded her maiden trip to China visa-free.

“China is safer than I thought. People are very nice when you try to speak Chinese,’’ said Ms Medina, who attends a Chinese-language school in Spain.

Ms Medina said she was pleased to find the subway in Beijing much cheaper than in Spain and with even better air conditioning.

“My Spanish bank card worked fine here, and I also used Chinese payment tools WeChat and Alipay,’’ she added.

(Xinhua/NAN)