An opinion feature published by China.com.cn on 23 June 2026 highlights a sharp rebound in foreign arrivals on the back of Beijing’s rapidly expanding unilateral visa-free policy. Citing data from Shanghai Border Inspection, the article notes that arrivals from five South American countries climbed 50.5 % year-on-year between June 2025 and May 2026, while total foreign entries nationwide topped 23 million in the first half of the year. China now grants 30-day visa-free entry to ordinary-passport holders from 48 countries—including France, Germany, Malaysia and Brazil—and offers a separate 240-hour transit-visa waiver covering 55 nationalities. The commentary argues that easier entry and ubiquitous mobile-payment solutions have lowered the primary barriers for international visitors. However, it warns that bottlenecks remain in “last-mile” areas such as multilingual signage, hotel registration, and small-merchant payment acceptance, which can erode visitor satisfaction and dampen repeat travel. Tour operators quoted in the piece report that corporate group enquiries have recovered to 85 % of pre-pandemic levels, driven by pent-up demand for factory audits, trade-fair attendance and cultural incentive trips. Yet SMEs still face hurdles securing short-notice meeting space and bilingual transport services, especially outside tier-one cities. Policy researchers suggest that provincial governments replicate successful pilot programmes—such as Shanghai’s QR-code-based hotel registration for foreigners and Shenzhen’s “Foreign Visitor Service Desks”—to create a nationwide baseline of international-ready services. They also call for closer coordination between the National Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to market multi-destination itineraries that leverage the 240-hour transit window. For global mobility managers, the message is twofold: China is the easiest it has been to enter in a decade, but assignees and business travellers should still build in extra time for on-the-ground logistics and consider using local destination-service providers to bridge any remaining service gaps.
Source: China.com.cn
