Beijing is Seeing More International Visitors, and Businesses are Benefitting

Seen some unfamiliar faces around lately? We’ve been seeing a lot as of late, and it looks like much of this could be thanks to an increase in foreign visitors. New policies and more flights have led to an influx of inbound tourists and other visitors from abroad in 2024, and Beijing hasn’t been missing out at all.

By the Numbers

You’ve probably already seen the national numbers: China’s National Immigration Administration recently reported 13 million foreign nationals entered the country in the first quarter of this year.

Of this number, over 1.9 million foreign nationals entered China visa-free, an increase of nearly 270 percent year-on-year. This number is likely to continue upward into Q2 of 2024, with Beijing News Radio reporting that of the over 8.4 million people entering and leaving China for the Labor Day holiday period, nearly 780,000 foreign nationals were part of the pie, an increase of nearly 100 percent since last year.

But what are the numbers like for Beijing in particular? For a start, the city government says Beijing has seen 469,000 inbound tourists specifically in this year’s first quarter, up 3.1 times, or 67.2 percent of 2019 figures.

According to an April report from Beijing Business Today (translated by BeijingService here in English), international guests visiting Beijing are coming to see specific sites, with the Great Wall, Palace Museum, National Museum, the Summer Palace, and Temple of Heaven in the Top Ten since Mar 2023 to the present. 

Who’s Reaping the Rewards?

Hotels have been seeing a boost too, with the Business Today report noting hotels near the aforementioned tourist sites and in the capital’s central business districts have had no vacancies as of late.

We spoke to representatives from Kempinski Hotel Beijing Yansha Center, which has been named one of Ctrip’s top ten hotels for incoming tourists this year, who tell us the number of foreign visitors* to their hotel has skyrocketed this year. They say from January to April this year, Kempinski Yansha has welcomed nearly 6,000 foreign guests, an increase of 226 percent over the same period last year.

“Most of our foreign guests are from Europe, especially Germany, who have made up nearly 20 percent of guests” Kempinski Yansha told the Beijinger. The hotel cites its location, near foreign embassies and companies, as a reason for this demographic, as well as visa-free travel agreements.

Kempinski isn’t the only hotel to have seen an increase in foreign guests as of late. We also spoke with representatives from the Hilton Beijing, who told us since January of this year, they’ve received over 9,000 foreign guests through their doors, an increase of 143 percent year-on-year. Like Kempinski, the Hilton also cites visa-free policies as a reason, as most guests come from a number of European countries with the arrangement, as well as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

This has trickled down even further, with many tour and experience companies catering to foreigners also seeing an increase in new faces. “We’ve received a lot of people this year, especially over the Easter holiday,” says Yao of The Hutong, a popular business offering cooking classes, walks, and talks focused on Beijing and China.

This is echoed by Dominic Callum De Couto of tour company Our Beijing, who says while he couldn’t give an exact number, he’s seen hundreds of tourists, business travelers, and visiting family sign up for Our Beijing’s tours. Dominic says new participants aren’t necessarily here for the visa-free reason. “Lots of people visiting had already planned their trip, and then the visa-free policy came along and it became a whole lot more convenient," he said.

Callum De Couto also cites the 144-hour transit policy for some countries as a benefit, especially for business travelers. "It’s a fantastic policy,” he exclaims, “more people should know about it because it would definitely attract adventure travelers; six days is enough time to have an amazing trip in Beijing.”

Looking Ahead This Year and Beyond

While things seem to be looking up for incoming visits to China and Beijing, it’s not all a walk in the park. Travel Daily said in a recent article published after the May holiday that even though inbound tourists from countries under the unilateral visa-free scheme, numbers are still low in the short term.

The report says even though many of these visitors are coming from Southeast Asia, inquiries for tourism packages to China made by European and American travelers aren’t even at 5 percent. What’s more, some tourism operators are still trying to get back to 2019 numbers. One operator cited in the report said their inbound business had only returned to 30 percent of their numbers for that year.

When speaking about the visa-free policy, Callum De Couto admits it’s so new that not many people are familiar with utilizing it. This sentiment is echoed in the Travel Daily article, which says many wholesale travel agencies in Europe are still in the process of getting used to the new policy, adding that things could pick up this summer and into next year.

Indeed, it seems China has this in mind, having just recently decided to extend short-term visa-free travel for citizens of 12 countries to the end of 2025.

The USA and many other countries can enjoy 144-hour or 72-hour visa-free stays in many Chinese cities. This, as Dominic noted, is an ideal way to see a city like Beijing: six days to see China’s capital before catching a transfer flight out of China and to a nearby destination.

Optimism Abounds

In spite of current issues, those we spoke with are already seeing positives and are looking forward to what may come. “The visa-free policy has helped our hotel gain more popularity on overseas online travel sites, like Agoda and Expedia,” the Hilton’s representative tells us, “while we’ve also secured more business via foreign cooperation and embassy events.”

Things might not be going fast right now, but the trickling in of new faces might become a stream as the year continues, as long as more opportunities for easier travel arise. “We had a family recently who had planned to come before Covid hit,” says Callum De Couto. They had already planned everything and, when the visa-free policy came about, took the chance to come.

“Most people plan trips to places much further in advance,” Callum De Couto concludes, adding “I think we’ll see more and more people taking advantage of this. I hope they keep it for at least a couple of years to see the real benefits.”

*These numbers are for foreign nationals coming from January to April in general, not just tourists.

READ: Who's Who in the World of Beijing Walking Tours

Images: Unsplash