Initiative aims to make inbound travel frictionless experience for foreigners

China is launching a nationwide "customer service upgrade" designed to turn the country into one of the world's easiest places for international travelers to navigate, shop and spend.

The initiative, launched by the Ministry of Commerce and other government agencies in late March, has come in step with a surge in popularity of international travel to China.

In 2025, international visitors spent nearly 394 billion yuan ($57 billion) in China — a 49.5 percent jump from the previous year.

Despite the rapid growth, Chinese people still spend more outside of China than international visitors spend in the country, said He Yongqian, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce. He added that the new policy package seeks to further unlock the potential of the tourist trade and turn China into a globally attractive destination for travelers.

Efforts will be made to remove bottlenecks in dining, accommodation, transport, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment for tourists, while further enhancing convenience across payment, tax refunds, communication, touring and ticketing, He said.

"The goal is to make more international travelers want to come to China, able to come to China and wish to come to China again," He added.

To give visitors more to do, China is making it easier to host international concerts, sports games and language classes, while creating new types of tours.

A raft of convenience measures include optimized departure tax refund procedures, improved payment accessibility, easier access to local telecom services, and efforts to improve the digital integration of personal devices for inbound cultural and tourism consumption.

Jiang Zhao, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that by fostering collaboration between previously siloed sectors, policymakers aim to generate "integrated appeal" — where the whole of the tourist experience exceeds the sum of its individual parts.

"Instead of treating shopping, dining and entertainment as discrete transactions, the goal is to weave them into interconnected journeys that extend duration of stay and deepen spending," Jiang said.

The approach arrives at a critical juncture in global tourism competition. As nations worldwide accelerate efforts to recapture pre-pandemic international visitor flows, China is positioning itself to capitalize on a market in clear ascendance.

According to the National Immigration Administration, over 1.31 million foreigners entered or exited China during the weeklong Spring Festival period this year — a 21.8 percent increase compared to the same holiday span last year on a daily average basis.

More striking than the volume, however, was the intensity of spending. In Shanghai, departure tax refund sales surged 150 percent year-on-year. The increase was even more dramatic in Sichuan province, where refund-eligible sales rocketed 320 percent above prior-year levels.

"China is already trending upward as a destination of choice for international tourists," said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy. "The timing of these policies is calculated to seize the moment of global recovery."

Beyond economics, Dai highlighted tourism as a powerful vehicle for cultural exchange and for shaping China's global image.

Growing international curiosity about Chinese lifestyles and culture reflects that appeal, he said, citing the recent viral trend of foreigners "becoming Chinese" across overseas social media platforms.

"People don't travel simply because our lives are different," Dai said. "They travel because they see a better life they want to experience.

"More foreigners want to understand China and feel drawn to it, largely because they see the quality of life here. It is crucial that we present the authentic image of contemporary China to the world," he added.