The rebound is being driven not just by returning Chinese travellers, but by a sharp rise in foreign arrivals. Foreign nationals accounted for around 30 percent of crossings, with more than 6 million entries and exits logged year to date, a 34.5 percent increase compared with the same period last year.  

Officials say visa-free entry policies have been a decisive factor. Around 1.86 million inbound trips were made under visa-free arrangements, nearly double the number seen in 2024, and roughly 60 percent of all foreign entries.  

The surge comes as China continues to widen access. Beijing now benefits from mutual visa-exemption agreements with 29 countries, alongside unilateral visa-free entry for citizens of 48 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. At the airport and border level, authorities have introduced online arrival cards and improved on-site guidance, aiming to reduce bottlenecks as traffic volumes climb. 

Travel motives point to a broad-based recovery. Close to half of inbound foreign passengers entered Beijing as tourists, while the remainder travelled for business or to visit friends and family. That mix suggests international travel is normalising beyond a narrow sightseeing rebound, with commercial and personal ties re-engaging in parallel. 

After several false starts since 2020, the numbers behind the Beijing tourism rebound point to something more durable: international travel returning not as a trickle, but as a steady, diversified flow – helped along by policy choices deliberately designed to lower the friction of coming back. 

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The shockwave followed an unusually blunt advisory from Beijing, which urged Chinese citizens to avoid travel to Japan after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida suggested Tokyo could intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan. The message landed loudly in a market where outbound tourism often mirrors political mood swings and where consumer sentiment can flip almost instantly. 

Airlines moved fast. Within hours of Beijing’s advisory, major Chinese carriers rolled out full refunds and no-penalty itinerary changes for Japan-bound tickets, clearing the way for cancellations at scale. Reports also suggest some state-owned enterprises told staff to suspend personal travel applications to Japan, adding another layer of caution even without a formal nationwide directive.  

Taken together, the China–Japan travel spat signals more than a brief wobble – at least in the near term. It’s not unprecedented: during the 2012 Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands flare-up, Chinese tourism to Japan plunged before rebounding once tensions eased. The same pattern could play out again. But for now, the advisory, the rapid airline response and the SOE-level caution all point to a chill that, while likely temporary, is very much real. 

Chinese travellers normally account for roughly a quarter of Japan’s inbound tourism and punch well above their weight in per-capita spending. Tokyo felt that loss immediately. Local media reported sudden drops in hotel occupancy forecasts for late 2025 and early 2026, as operators braced for a winter without their most valuable customer base. 

But the implications stretch well beyond Japan’s tourism trade. The scale and speed of cancellations signals tourism as a new lever for Beijing to pull when China’s neighbours don’t play ball. Discouraging leisure travel is a low-cost, high-visibility way to broadcast displeasure without touching trade. 

The question now is whether this freeze becomes structural. If the advisory stays in place – or if rhetoric around Taiwan hardens further – Japan’s most dependable inbound engine could remain stalled well into 2026. And for both sides, a once-routine flow of tourists has become another proxy battleground in an increasingly brittle regional relationship. 

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The numbers jump by an oddly sequential 123 million trips compared with 2024’s figures, and domestic tourism spending reached RMB 809 billion (about US$ 113.8 billion), up RMB 108 billion (about US$ 15 billion) year on year, reports the Ministry. 

Shanghai and Chengdu saw notable spikes in popularity among the holiday’s travellers. Shanghai’s tourist figures showed an 18.5% rise year-on-year. Chengdu’s showed an increase of 28.8%. Analysts have pointed out that when all the number crunching is done, overall consumption during the Golden Week period could rise by roughly 10% compared to last year.  

Also emerging from the spreadsheets is an interesting spike in inbound foreign tourism. This was picked up on Alipay. The National Day holiday saw a 40% surge in inbound tourist spending on the lifestyle/payment app. When on holiday, these laowai (foreigners) spent widely in retail, boosting Alipay spending in that sector by over 200% compared to the same period last year. Could this be the true end to the post-Covid sluggishness in China’s foreign tourist trade? Perhaps, but there could also be something else at play here: China has done remarkably well as a soft power of late.  

There was the TikTok-ban shift to Rednote, where many foreigners were shocked to see images of China’s cities popping with cyberpunk flare. Before that, Black Myth: Wukong turned heads east. In fact, earlier this year the Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index declared China now holds second place in global soft power rankings – second only to the land of blue jeans and Big Macs.  

It’s been a good week for China’s tourism industry. Could it be a one-off uptick? Domestic trips over this Spring Festival 2025 showed a 5.9% year-on-year rise. Spending was up 7% year-on-year, too. Wherever the next holiday takes China’s 888 million travellers, one thing’s for sure: it all points to a very promising trend in China’s tourism sector.  

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The 300 sqm store combines retail space, a ReBIRD circular resale and service centre, as well as the titular lounge. The focus is less on the display of merchandise but more on creating an immersive experience inspired by the mountains and the great outdoors. The lounge and ReBIRD together take up more than half the area.

The choice of location is significant as well. As a “departure” themed store, it is hosted in Beijing, one of the first cities you visit when you go to China and home to many Chinese outdoor lovers. The store is located in the luxury Peninsula Beijing Hotel, in the centre of the capital, among many luxury brands. This, of course, is also a point of departure for international visitors to China. Perhaps not by coincidence, both Arc’teryx and the Peninsula Beijing Hotel were founded in 1989.

Arc’teryx, part of Amer Sport, has seen its growth slow in the group’s latest financial report. By doubling down on offline experiences and community building, the brand is focusing on its core consumer cohort, the urban middle class with a passion for the outdoors. The newest “departure” store reinforces the idea and completes the circle with the “destination stores”. However, whether the effort would pay off remains to be seen.

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An Americano makes sense, as there’s no milk to worry about. However, the flavour is not the only draw for those eager to try something unconventional. Datong Cultural Tourism also brought stickers, sleeves and paper bags featuring artworks of the Ji Letian, the Celestial Musician and Dancer from the Yungang Grottoes, as well as displays from the Datong Museum and Huayan Temple. At the same time, a vinegar-flavoured fried chicken thigh was also introduced by KFC, along with the coffee.

The flavour, of course, appeals to the meme-loving younger generation that dares to try anything. However, black vinegar coffee has been in development in Shanxi, a province famous for its vinegar, for a couple of years. With local small-town coffee shops emerging, it has become a local staple. Whether it is a tourist trap or truly a local delicacy, the national introduction from KCOFFEE might be a good chance to find out.

Shanxi, especially Datong, has been growing rapidly as a travel destination. With the blockbusting video game Black Myth: Wukong basing many of its maps in real locations in Shanxi, the province now resonates deeply with traditional culture and Buddhist artefacts. The new collaboration, in this sense, appeals to both the “abstract” loving crowd who enjoy KFC’s “Crazy Thursdays” and to those who love cultural tourism and the traditional heritage associated with Datong’s city marketing. A very interesting, localised campaign for a coffee brand from an American fast-food giant.

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Data shows that there are over 44,000 rural coffee shops and cafés in China. The provinces with the most “village coffee shops” are Yunnan, Guangdong, Anhui, Henan and Zhejiang. The top two provinces, Yunnan and Guangdong, have 11,915 and 7,786 rural coffee places, respectively. This is thought to be because they are the two major origins of coffee beans in China.

Business or Pleasure

Many of the coffee consumers in these rural regions are, in fact, travellers. For many small towns and rural areas, coffee shops are an extension of B&Bs and “cultural tourism”. For travellers, this type of tour is a “lighter” version of camping, living in rural houses built during the Qing era and washing down local cuisine with a nice cup of coffee.

This business model, however, relied heavily on in-province travel and was especially popular during the pandemic. But with travel restrictions lifted, many travellers have shifted back to longer-distance travel, both domestically and internationally. As the trend of “lighter” lifestyle also reached tourism, a steady niche of visitors still prefer small towns close to the cities where they work or within the same province.

Local governments also see this as an opportunity to boost both travel and help small businesses, with Zhongshan, Guangdong, providing rent subsidies and Zhejiang helping entrepreneurs with taxes. However, this has also led to a sense of saturation, with competition from large chains, new entrepreneurs, and even hotel lobbies pushing the market into a state of “involution” (内卷, fruitless competition).

After the initial wave of “check-in” (打卡), caused mostly by the novelty of having coffee shops in small towns, many of these rural and small-town coffee places are now evolving into concept cafés or themed coffee shops, providing immersive local experiences of the culture, be it a traditional or rustic lifestyle or, should the region permit, ethnic minority cultures. Providing hot food, either pizza to go with the Western theme of coffee or local delicacies, is another sphere of competition.  

Digital Nomadland

Earlier this year, the rent increase in Dali, Yunnan, a favourite of digital nomads seeking the pastoral “poetry and elsewhere” (诗和远方), caused many to reconsider where they roam. In light of new developments in small towns, many decided to return to their hometowns to continue their digital nomad work out of local coffee shops.

In fact, during Chinese New Year earlier this year, a trend became something of a hit meme: urban young professionals, “Lily” and “Kevin”, returned home only to become “Cuihua” (翠花) and “Dazhu” (大柱) in their hometowns during the festival. Coffee shops, be they large chains like Luckin Coffee or independent and craft coffee places, offered them both a continuation of their urban lifestyle and a space for socialising.

Now, many have relocated back to their hometowns for their remote jobs. Coffee shops, in this case, play a similar role to what they do in larger cities, but with fewer distractions as they are away from busy shopping areas. Many people, both visitors and residents, seek “songchigan” (松弛感, sense of looseness, chillax) in small-town life, and find that these coffee shops embody almost everything they’re looking for.

However, the business of “village coffee” is not all fun and games. Not only has the aforementioned saturation led to fierce competition, but it has also caused homogeneity, as not every coffee shop can afford to find its own unique selling proposition. For example, a checked tablecloth, a bamboo wicker basket and an “Instagram-style” presentation are what many call the “big three” elements of a rustic coffee place. With cafés having similar aesthetics, some are pointing out that they are starting to look just like the ones in the cities, with the same interior design. Items like rice-flavoured coffee are also being copied and pasted onto nearly every menu.

At the same time, the cost of opening a coffee shop in a small town or in a village can still be high, especially if you need to restore an old building to get the rustic feel you want. With water and power being essential, renovating a “village café” can set you back anywhere between 400,000 RMB (55,912.76 USD) and 1 million RMB (139,781.90 USD). However, with 2,053 new coffee shop openings across the country, albeit mostly chains, in June alone, the coffee boom is far from over. The question is whether “village coffee” can continue to exist in its current form.

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While everyone is still talking about The Louis, a cruise ship-shaped Louis Vuitton flagship in Shanghai, the French luxury brand has already launched a follow-up. Expanding on the concept, Louis Vuitton presented a video and photo travel campaign that explores China travel. The campaign, titled the “L’Âme du Voyage” (旅行的真谛, lit. the spirit of travel), launched in China in early July and will see a global rollout starting 24 July.

The campaign is in collaboration with American photographer Alec Soth. It brings Soth and LV’s travel collection to three of China’s top destinations: the Li River of Guilin, Guangxi, the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park of Hunan and the Hanging Temple of Datong, Shanxi. The Maison takes advantage of Soth’s poetic yet realistic style to blend its luggage into the beautiful natural sights and cultural sites of China.

The luxury luggage pieces, including the Monogram Horizon rolling suitcase, Soft Keepall bags, and the Alzer and Coffret series, are placed in unexpected locations, such as on the back of bicycles on a footbridge over the river, or on top of a cormorant fishing raft with birds. The almost surreal compositions elevate the campaign into the realm of contemporary art. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “L’Âme du Voyage” (#旅行的真谛#) earned 63.47 million views.

Although some question the “realism” of the campaign and feel the luxury luggage was shoehorned in, Louis Vuitton’s intention was to spark conversation around the “spirit” of travel. With travel in China continuing to grow this year, partly thanks to visa waivers, the Louis Vuitton campaign might just be tapping into the zeitgeist of appreciating the country’s sights.

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Emirates entered China with freight flights from Dubai to Shanghai in 2002, before introducing passenger flights to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in 2004, 2006 and 2008, respectively. Its waypoints remained limited to these three cities until expanding rapidly to the two new cities this month.

The choice of new Emirates waypoints at Hangzhou and Shenzhen reflects both China’s outbound travel boom and Dubai’s efforts to establish itself as a tech-centric business hub. Shenzhen is home to many of China’s tech and innovation enterprises, and Hangzhou, the home of Alibaba, also hosts a range of innovative businesses. According to Emirates, business travellers are one of the main drivers for the new routes. But Hangzhou, with its long history and beautiful sights such as the West Lake, is also a tourist destination in its own right.

Emirates’ financial report showed that in FY2024-2025, it earned a record-breaking 34.9 billion USD, with pre-tax profit reaching 5.8 billion USD, making it one of the most profitable airlines in the world. The new waypoints are also a result of the new Freedoms of the Air talks between China and the UAE. With the increasing business cooperation between China and the Gulf countries, and mutual interest in tourism, Chinese airlines such as China Eastern are also expanding their presence in the Middle East.

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One of the key highlights of this year’s Shanghai Summer is the official grand opening of the LEGOLAND Shanghai Resort, following a trial period. The new Shanghai theme park is the largest of the 11 LEGOLANDs worldwide, and on its opening day, 5 July, saw queue times ranging from 40 to 105 minutes. There will also be a half-price promotion on food and beverages, as well as gift sets for visitors under 12 between July and August.

One of the hottest brands of the moment, POP MART, also prepared special experiences for Shanghai this summer, from a pop-up shop for its THE MONSTERS IP, which includes the global phenomenon LABUBU, to the debut exhibition for SKULLPANDA, another popular IP. More collectible toy concept pop-ups and events will be hosted across various shopping centres in the city.

To leverage the “China travel” trend earlier this year, travel and food-ordering apps such as Umetrip, Amap and Dianping all introduced multi-language UIs. Meanwhile, a non-identity verified city-wide card is being introduced to visitors, which can be used for transport, shopping and dining. Tax-refund spots have also increased to 1,391, with self-service machines issuing VAT refunds at the point of purchase. Shanghai is addressing several inconveniences foreign visitors reported in previous China travel booms and is ready to welcome travellers with its experiences and destinations.

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This, coupled with some recent news about power banks catching fire or exploding, fanned the concern among users and authorities. As a result, the widely published ban came into effect. However, it has had much less far-reaching effects, as it was imposed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), banning the recalled batches, as well as power banks without the China Compulsory Certificate (CCC) markings, from boarding civil airline aeroplanes starting 28 June. Delivery services also followed suit, banning the recalled batches, resulting in customers being unable to return the items.

• #充电宝 退不了 power bank, can’t return: 35.34 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list
• #民航局对充电宝发紧急通知CAAC emergency notice on power banks: 80 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list

While many are calling for a ban on all power banks without the CCC mark, pundits point out that the mandatory certification was only introduced a year ago, and many consumers are still using non-CCC-certified products. Still, to err on the side of caution, it may be advisable to replace older models, especially if you plan to travel with one.

Need to boost your China strategy? Dao Pro delivers bespoke insights on marketing, innovation, and digital trends, direct from Chinese sources. Find out more from our Dao Strategy Team here.

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