Tourists visit the Bund area in east China's Shanghai, July 22, 2024. (Photo by Yu Jiayi/Xinhua)

Tourism in China continued to boom as this year's National Day holidays entered the latter half. The Chinese Ministry of Transport announced that around 284 million cross-regional trips were made on Friday, the fourth day of the holidays, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to the same day last year.

Ancient architecture and sculptures in North China's Shanxi Province became one of the most popular destinations this year thanks to the unexampled success of China's first triple-A video game Black Myth: Wukong, which features 36 locations across China, with 27 situated in Shanxi. 

Inbound tourism also demonstrated strong growth over the holiday with inbound travel booking  rising by more than 60 percent compared to last year, which is expected to surpass that of outbound tourism in terms of growth rates thanks to a series of supportive policies.

Citing the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, CCTV reported Saturday that, from Tuesday to Friday, the first four days of the week-long holidays, combined inbound and outbound cross-border passenger trips via Shenzhen Airport exceeded 57,000, with nearly 600 flight arrivals and departures, representing a year-on-year increases of 58.1 percent and 55.2 percent, respectively. 

With the continuous rise in inbound and outbound passenger trips, the total number of border crossings at Shenzhen Airport this year has surpassed 4 million, marking a 47.6 percent increase compared to last year's total, according to officials.

Over the first four days of the National Day holidays, the number of outbound passengers at Shenzhen Airport exceeded 33,000, with Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia being the most popular destinations, the station said, while predicting a peak of inbound travel on Sunday and Monday, the last two days of the holidays.

During this year's National Day holidays, booking volumes made by inbound tourists to China has reportedly increased by more than 60 percent compared to the same period last year, according to CCTV on Friday.

China continues to optimize its visa and customs policies, accelerate the recovery of international flights, improve payment facilitation, and enhance the overall service quality for inbound tourism. As a result, international popularity of China Travel keeps growing this year.

An official told the CCTV on Friday that the number of inbound trips by foreigners via the Shenzhen general station this year had exceeded 360,000, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 143 percent. Of this figure, the number of inbound trips under the visa-free policies had surpassed 130,000, showing an increase of more than five times compared to the previous year, according to the official.

Just before this holiday, Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on September 30 to expand the visa-free policy to citizens of Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia from October 15, 2024 to December 31, 2025.

In addition to only visiting popular destinations like Beijing and Shanghai, this year, foreign travelers tend to enjoy in-depth and niche travel in China to explore lesser-known tourist spots and feel more comfortable to utilize China's advanced high-speed rail network to travel between different cities.

Trends such as "silver-hair travel" and "family travel" have also become new growth areas for inbound tourism. 

"The China I read about in the book is very traditional, but when I arrived in Beijing, I found that it is actually a blend of tradition and modernity. The contrast between the two is really fascinating," said a 14-year-old tourist from Australia.

Global Times