China strives to lure foreign tourists, but it's a hard sell for some

Trip.com

17/07/2024 02:00

By Sophie Yu and Casey Hall
       BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) - Guilherme Carvalho made his
first visit to China this month, and the Italian said one of the
main factors behind the trip was the post-pandemic policy to
scrap entry permits for some tourists.
    Previously, all foreign visitors had to go through the
onerous process of applying for a Chinese visa. Now, visitors
from more than a dozen countries can just fly in, and stay for
up to 15 days.
    "I didn't expect to feel so safe," said Carvalho, who
visited Shanghai. "Everyone is so kind." 
    Carvalho is not alone. As the authorities focus on boosting
foreign tourism in a bid to revive the economy and perk up
sluggish consumer spending, thousands of visitors have flocked
to China, encouraged by the visa policies and easier access to
its unique digital payment services.
    As of June 24, bookings from several countries under the
visa policy including France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia and
Thailand surged 150% year-on-year, data from China's largest
online travel agency Trip.com  9961.HK  showed.
    Bookings for July and August are also set to be higher.
    "We're very excited to see the trend. Lots of people had
some misunderstandings about China before they came, but after
they arrive, they feel cities like Shanghai are very safe, very
clean," said Trip.com CEO Jane Sun.
    Since December, China has granted visa-free entry to
tourists from several countries, including France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Poland.
    Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Singapore and
Malaysia have also struck agreements with Beijing to facilitate
visa-free travel.
    In the week that China announced visa-free travel for
visitors from Australia and New Zealand, sales of tours jumped
133% compared to the previous week, said Yvette Thompson,
general manager for sales and marketing for Australia and New
Zealand at tour agency Intrepid Travel.
    "Coming out of COVID, visas are just another level of
complexity for travellers. So to remove that complexity, I think
is a good move," she said.
    
    LONG-HAUL RECOVERY
    The recent surge in tourism comes after China closed its
borders in early 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and kept
them shut until the start of 2023.
    But even with the visa-free policy boost, far fewer tourists
are coming to China now than before the pandemic.
    According to official tourism data, China received a total
of 49.1 million overseas visitors in 2019, with more than a
third coming in for sightseeing and leisure. Revenue from
international tourism reached $131.3 billion that year.
    In the first half of 2024, the number of foreign nationals
entering China was far lower at 14.6 million. Among them, 8.5
million entered visa-free, accounting for just over half of the
total, according to the National Immigration Administration.
    International tourism revenue data for China has not been
published since 2019.
    Travel agents say they are hopeful next year will bring in
more foreign tourists as global demand for travel, and flight
schedules, recover further to pre-pandemic levels.
    However, China needs to do more than just waive visas to
encourage foreigners, experts say.
    Geopolitical tensions, a government that tolerates no
dissent and China's sometimes belligerent portrayal in some
Western media have kept some tourists away. Last month, two
separate knife attacks on foreigners also sparked security
concerns.
    China must also compete for attention with Japan, which is
experiencing a boom in tourism thanks to its weak yen.
    "The more that we talk around the reasons to go to China -
the diverse landscapes, the history, the difference between
imperial Beijing versus futuristic Shanghai - I think the faster
that negative PR dissipates," travel agent Thomson said.
    Another potential hurdle for foreigners is China's vast
digital infrastructure.
    Paying for everything from transport tickets to restaurant
bookings to tourist site admissions is done via QR codes linked
to local payment apps such as WeChat and Alipay, making daily
interactions difficult for holders of foreign bank cards.
    China has allowed foreign bank cards to be linked to Alipay
and WeChat, but the system and language barriers remain
daunting.
    "I can't imagine how a foreigner who doesn't have Chinese
payment tools and doesn't speak the language can deal with all
this," said Liang Hongling, a Chinese scholar living in Glasgow
and who plans to travel with her Irish husband to her hometown
in Xinjiang this month.
    

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China inbound flights 2019 vs. 2024 (Copy)    https://reut.rs/4czRHE4
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 (Reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Casey Hall in Shanghai;
Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Miral Fahmy)
 ((Sophie.Yu@thomsonreuters.com; 861056692136;))