Beijing right in your palm

A pioneer city

Beijing has been leading the way in making travel easier.

The city pioneered one-stop, visafree transit clearance in 30 minutes. It introduced the world's first urban rail transit system to support tap-to-ride across all five major international card organizations (Mastercard, Visa, American Express, JCB, and UnionPay), covering its entire network, all time periods, and all gates. It expanded tax refunds to more than 2,000 stores and rolled out "instant refund" mutual recognition across 17 provincial-level regions nationwide.

Additionally, Beijing Badaling Culture Tourism Group Co signed an agreement with Mastercard. In a first for the country, the Badaling Great Wall became one of China's first World Heritage scenic areas where overseas travelers can pay as easily as they would at home, earning the domestic designation: "World Cultural Heritage Inbound Payment Demonstration Scenic Area."

Recent efforts have proved successful, data show.

In the first half of 2026, Beijing welcomed 3.27 million inbound visits — over 85 percent from foreign visitors — with inbound tourism spending hitting a historic high of 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion), up 40 percent year-on-year.

Developing the industry

The conference also marked the global debut of the world's first international standard for "Brand Evaluation-Tourism City", backed by 121 detailed assessment criteria. This ISO turns high-level theory into practical measures cities can actually use, organizers say.

The WTCF also released the World Tourism Cities Development Report (2025-26), which evaluated hundreds of cities through a "1+6"framework. New York, Tokyo, Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Milan, Istanbul, and Dubai led the rankings.

"The World Tourism Cities Federation is organizing several important events under several different brands," WTCF director general Chen Bo says.

"Our annual summit, for example, is focused on bringing together experts to discuss key issues and, more importantly, to release important academic research and findings that can help guide the development of the global tourism industry. Our Cooperation and Development Conference focuses more on practical cooperation."

Chen points to the release of a list highlighting the top 10 technology applications in Beijing's culture and tourism sector as an example.

Over 80 overseas tour operators, online travel agencies and travel management companies sat down with more than 110 Chinese inbound-travel agencies, hotels and cultural-tourism tech firms, resulting in about a dozen inbound tourism projects.

China is steadily removing barriers for international visitors. It now has mutual visa-waiver agreements with 29 countries and unilateral visa-free entry for visitors from 50 nations. Citizens of 55 countries are eligible for 240-hour visa-free transit. Improved payment options, nationwide instant tax refunds and online arrival forms with multilingual digital tools are further smoothing the path.

Organizers expect the number of foreign visitors to China and Beijing to keep growing as digital marketing from destinations, overseas tourism agencies and social media shrinks information gaps. Online booking and multilingual services are making cross-border travel easier. Inbound tourists are also venturing beyond classic iconic sights and into everyday local neighborhoods.

Human interest

China Tourism Academy president Dai Bin explains that inbound tourism's significance extends beyond visitor numbers.

"Trade in goods has introduced the world to 'Made in China', while tourism brings international visitors closer to the realities of everyday life in China," Dai says.

"What foreign tourists take home is not only the scenery they encounter along the way but also their most direct impressions and assessments of the services China has to offer. Tourism exchanges enhance connectivity, serving as an important bridge and catalyst for infrastructure connectivity and unimpeded trade."

Cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi province, remain the top destinations for international travelers to China, Dai notes.

Those impressions are adding up.

In 2025, China welcomed 154.5 million inbound visits — including 35 million from overseas, or 22 percent of the total — surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 levels and marking a record high share of foreign visitors, the China Tourism Academy says, citing Ministry of Culture and Tourism data.

Visitors from Belt and Road countries led the charge, making up over 80 percent of all foreign arrivals in 2025, a year-on-year increase of nearly 27 percent. Nine of those nations each sent more than 1 million travelers to China, together accounting for nearly 80 percent of arrivals from BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative) partner countries and almost 65 percent of all foreign tourists.

Dai expects inbound travel's impacts will extend beyond mere economics.

"(We should) let international tourism exchange serve as the warmest footnote to a community with a shared future for humanity," he says.