China broadens tourism attraction with simpler journey, richer experiences

For an abroad customer to Beijing, a day of sightseeing now not has to finish on the Forbidden City or the Great Wall.

The metropolis’s tourism map is increasing. In the outer districts, a countryside keep might be paired with a scenic prepare journey or a go to to a serious scientific facility, whereas outdated cities and fashionable industries are making their manner onto worldwide guests’ itineraries.

“China offers not only inspiring historical landscapes but also innovative tourism products and services,” mentioned Australian tour operator Manuel Condoleon, including that his purchasers are more and more looking for customized experiences and homestays. Safety, he famous, is one other main benefit drawing worldwide guests to China.

That altering panorama was on the coronary heart of the 2026 World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development, held through the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing.

The convention launched 121 detailed scoring standards supporting ISO 11778 on tourism metropolis model analysis. Led by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), ISO 11778 is the world’s first worldwide commonplace devoted particularly to evaluating tourism metropolis manufacturers.

The new scoring guidelines construct on eight top-level indicators and 53 secondary indicators in the usual, overlaying areas together with tourism assets, infrastructure, service comfort, environmental sustainability, security, stakeholder analysis, customer numbers and monetary efficiency.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, mentioned quantitative indicators corresponding to customer numbers and tourism income stay essential, however larger weight needs to be given to how vacationers really expertise a vacation spot.

A report launched throughout CIFTIS by the institute of worldwide commerce in providers underneath the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation pointed to an identical problem. It discovered that rising inbound customer numbers have but to be totally transformed into tourism spending in China, and that amongst 5 dimensions examined, enhancements in service high quality and customer expertise had the strongest impact on unlocking additional development potential.

Across China, efforts are underway to make journey simpler whereas providing guests extra causes to remain longer and discover extra deeply.

SMOOTHER JOURNEYS

For worldwide guests, planning a visit to Beijing can now begin lengthy earlier than arrival.

A brand new digital platform, launched by China Daily and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism through the convention, brings itinerary planning, flight and prepare bookings, lodging, translation, transport, forex conversion and on-line cost providers into one place. International guests can entry it both by visiting www.chinabound.cn/beijing or trying to find “ChinaBound” in Alipay.

“Beijing is leveraging digital technologies to enhance tourism services and improve the experience of international visitors,” mentioned Zheng Fang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. The platform additionally options an AI assistant that solutions questions and helps plan journeys, serving as a digital information for first-time guests.

At CIFTIS, exhibitors showcased AI-powered multilingual guides and AR translation glasses designed to make on-the-go communication simpler. One system used on the tourism convention displayed real-time translations immediately within the wearer’s visual field, whereas different gadgets supported real-time translation in dozens of languages.

“Language used to be the biggest problem, but it is increasingly less of an issue,” Condoleon mentioned. “Technology, including AI, has made it much easier for today’s travelers to get around China than it was ten or twenty years ago.”

Chinese on-line journey platform Trip.com Group mentioned inbound guests nonetheless encounter difficulties with language, understanding tourism merchandise, coordinating itineraries and coping with surprising conditions, with issues throughout a visit notably distinguished.

The firm has helped greater than 170 scenic spots launch multilingual web sites and deployed multilingual self-service ticket machines at almost 300 points of interest. Using AI, it additionally supplies product data in as much as 16 languages for greater than 8,000 scenic spots and 450,000 inns.

The demand retains climbing. Latest knowledge reveals that international nationals made almost 61.29 million border crossings within the first eight months this 12 months, up 19.5 p.c 12 months on 12 months. Visa-free entries by international nationals totaled 23.72 million, accounting for 77.6 p.c of all inbound international guests to China, up 26.8 p.c year-on-year.

BEYOND THE LANDMARKS

The World Tourism Cities Development Report (2025-2026), additionally launched on the convention, ranked Beijing fifth amongst 100 world tourism cities, behind New York, Tokyo, Paris and London. The remaining prime 10 spots had been rounded out by Shanghai, Hong Kong, Milan, Istanbul and Dubai.

For Beijing, increasing inbound tourism more and more means giving guests extra decisions past its best-known landmarks.

A scenic prepare route gives one other method to discover Yanqing within the metropolis’s northwest. In Huairou, guests can see main nationwide scientific services and a science metropolis, whereas Shunyi gives a take a look at fashionable logistics and repair industries.

“Beijing has not only history and the past, but also the present and the future,” Dai mentioned.

He mentioned inbound tourism within the new period ought to transcend a single historic narrative and provides abroad guests larger entry to modern life, technological innovation and in style tradition, alongside conventional points of interest.

Foreign guests are already touring farther from Beijing’s city core. Platform knowledge present that abroad vacationers have booked homestays in all 10 of Beijing’s suburban districts this 12 months, with bookings in Yanqing up greater than 50 p.c year-on-year and in Huairou up 14 p.c. Courtyard homestays have confirmed particularly in style, with bookings from international guests rising 50 p.c.

The development extends properly past the capital. First-tier and new-first-tier cities stay the principle gateways for international guests, however extra vacationers at the moment are venturing inland to smaller locations. Data from homestay platform Tujia confirmed that Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai and Shanxi had been among the many provincial-level areas recording the quickest development in homestay bookings by international vacationers within the first half of the 12 months.

“The travel footprint of inbound visitors is expanding, and their pace is slowing down, as they take time to seek out more authentic cultural experiences, like browsing local markets, trying street food, exploring ancient architecture or trying their hand at intangible cultural heritage crafts,” mentioned Ma Yiliang, vice chairman of the China Tourism Academy.

China’s tourism improvement plan for the fifteenth Five-Year Plan interval (2026-2030) requires additional bettering providers for inbound vacationers, constructing tourism networks round main gateway cities and creating merchandise centered on areas starting from conventional crafts and historic tradition to expertise, examine excursions, festivals and purchasing.

Joseph Lema, an knowledgeable with the WTCF, mentioned competitors amongst tourism cities has moved past points of interest and customer numbers. What issues now, he mentioned, is the power to ship high quality experiences, efficient governance and sustainable improvement.