From runway to city street

For travelers with time to spare, Beijing Capital International Airport in the northeast of the city now offers complimentary half-day city tours for certain transit passengers.

Wang also points to efforts aimed at showcasing culture rather than simply facilitating movement. Daxing's international departure area features the China Garden, inspired by classical Suzhou landscaping, alongside rotating exhibitions from the National Museum of China and an annual airport carnival celebrating its anniversary.

"The question is no longer how to move passengers efficiently through a terminal," Wang says. "It's how to help them begin exploring the destination before they even leave the airport."

Airlines are undergoing a similar rethink.

Liu Li, chief representative for public affairs and aviation cooperation in China for Finland's flag carrier Finnair, says the airline has increasingly focused on turning the flight itself into part of the travel experience.

Recently, Finnair commissioned Finnish musician Lauri Porra to compose an album titled Matkantekija: Music for Travellers, performed on the traditional Finnish string instrument known as the kantele. The music accompanies passengers through different stages of the journey, from the business-class lounge and boarding process to in-flight service and landing.

The airline's long-haul business-class cabins also feature textiles from Finnish design house Marimekko, including classic patterns inspired by the country's landscapes.

"The one thing we have been working on is making the flight itself the first experience of Finland," Liu says. "That allows us to weave culture and tourism into every part of the journey."

The approach reflects a broader shift taking place across the aviation industry.

Rather than treating a flight as dead time between destinations, airlines are increasingly trying to make it part of the destination itself. For Finnair, that means introducing Finnish design, music and aesthetics long before passengers arrive in the country's capital Helsinki.

If Finnair demonstrates how airlines can turn a flight into a cultural introduction, destinations such as Edinburgh offer a lesson in what happens after passengers land.

Robert Lang, chair of Edinburgh Tourism Action Group's China Ready Initiative, compares aviation and tourism to a 400-meter relay race.

"You might have the best individual runners," he says. "But if you drop the baton in the exchange, you lose."

The baton, he explains, is data, coordination and consistency.