In the first six months of 2026, China received 22.91 million visits from foreign nationals, up 20.4 percent year on year. The uptick is the result of China’s visa-free policy, which accounts for 77.7 percent of all foreign arrivals. 

Earlier this year, China announced that starting February 17, 2026 all ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom can travel to its mainland for up to 30 days without a visa. The expansion in China’s unilateral visa-exemption program to include Canada and the U.K. followed recent visits to Beijing by leaders from the two countries as they seek to reset ties. According to China’s Foreign Ministry, the visa-free program – expected to run until December 31, 2026 – aims to foster people-to-people exchanges, the foundation for cross-cultural understanding, economic interdependence, and peaceful diplomatic relations. 

For the United Kingdom, which sees China as an important tourist destination as well as a source market, attempts to eliminate barriers to cross-border tourism are certainly a step in the right direction. Data from the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics showed that around 620,000 British people traveled to China in 2024. According to VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, in the same year, the U.K. welcomed 463,000 visitors from China (41 percent were holiday visits, in line with the market average), generating a total expenditure of 723.8 million pounds. In the coming years, a new report from VisitBritain estimates that China’s visitor market will be worth around £1.2 billion in terms of visitor spending in 2026. The agency forecast that tourism from China to the U.K. will expand rapidly, by 20 percent annually through 2030.

Similarly, as Canada seeks to reset relations with Beijing, the newly implemented visa-free policy is expected to further facilitate two-way travel. According to Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand, the change is “making travel easier, supporting business exchanges, and strengthening people-to-people ties.’’ 

For China, the offer of visa-free travel for nationals of Canada and the U.K. is only part of a larger trend. As part of efforts to further open up and attract foreign visitors after the COVID-19 pandemic, on December 1, 2023 China  commenced the trial implementation of unilateral visa-free entry policies for ordinary passport holders from six countries: Germany, France, Malaysia, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. Over the trial period, the expanded visa-free policy helped support China’s tourism industry growth. Beijing has thus continued with the approach, eventually expanding visa-free access to include 50 countries.

As the expanded visa-free program facilitated international travel, China experienced a record 697 million inbound and outbound crossings in 2025, according to data from the National Immigration Administration. That represented a 14.2 percent year-on-year increase. International visitors made more than 82 million crossings in 2025, marking a 26.4 percent increase compared to 2024, and over 73 percent of these travelers benefitted from China’s visa-free program. 

The inclusion of new members in China’s unilateral visa-free scheme – which now includes 35 countries from Europe, seven in Asia, six in the Americas, and two in Oceania – will not only enhance people-to-people exchanges but also support broader economic benefits. 

According to U.N. Tourism, China in 2023 recovered its position as the top spender on international tourism at $196.5 billion, followed by the United States ($150 billion), Germany ($112 billion), the U.K. ($110 billion), and France ($49 billion). The latest Economic Impact Research (EIR) data from the World Travel & Tourism Council showed more than 68 million international visitors entered China in 2025, up 15.5 percent year on year, nearly three times the global growth rate of 5.4 percent. At the same time, international visitor spending expanded by 10.5 percent to $135 billion, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and significantly outperforming the global average growth of 3.2 percent.

Ultimately, as China grows as a source market as well as a destination, the rise of the tourism industry is critical to both the Chinese economy and global tourism. The WTM Global Travel report estimated that from 2024 to 2033 the share of Chinese households with purchasing power to embark on international travel will roughly double. The growth of China’s middle class could add more than 60 million households to the count of those that can afford international travel. 

Interestingly, this figure represents just 2.3 percent of the country’s entire population, showing the Chinese market’s enormous potential for future growth. By 2033 the Chinese market, depending on its growth trajectory and other factors including connectivity, could be up to twice the size of the United States as a source market in terms of spending. 

Meanwhile, China is also forecast to be among the top five destination markets in terms of visitor spending (along with the United States, Spain, Thailand and Turkiye). 

Since its reform and opening up in 1978 China has leveraged its cultural and tourism sector to stimulate consumption, foster job creation, and significantly improve the country’s economic structure by integrating tourism into other industries to create new demand and business models. During its 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Beijing aims to build China into a tourism powerhouse. The plan set a goal to attract 190 million inbound tourists annually by 2030, with more than $150 billion inbound tourism spending a year. 

China is introducing various measures – including expanded visa-free schemes, infrastructure development (high-speed rail, airports and smart cities), and integrating smart technology into the travel experience – in a bid to drive inbound tourism. Given the size of China’s market, its efforts will be crucial to the ongoing recovery of the global tourism industry. 

In 2025 an estimated 1.52 billion international tourists were recorded worldwide, nearly 60 million more than in 2024, marking 4 percent year-on-year growth. That’s almost a return to the 5 percent pre-pandemic growth trend. The latest World Tourism Barometer by U.N. Tourism attributed the positive results to several factors, namely strong demand, robust performance from large source markets, ongoing recovery of destinations in Asia and the Pacific, expanded air connectivity, and enhanced visa facilitation. 

With international tourism in 2026 expected to be driven still higher by solid consumer demand, enhanced air connectivity, and growing outbound travel from emerging markets, the Chinese market could play an indispensable role in shaping global tourism, now and into the future.