China sees 33.4% growth in foreign visitors in Q1

In the first quarter of 2025, China's immigration authorities processed 163 million passenger trips, marking a 15.3 percent increase year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration on Tuesday.

This total includes 80.27 million trips by Chinese mainland residents, 65.72 million by residents  from Hong Kong, Macao, special administrative regions and Taiwan, and 17.44 million foreign nationals. Foreign visitors saw the largest increase, rising by 33.4 percent year-on-year.

Trips by residents from Hong Kong and Macao increased by 15.4 percent, with an increase of 11.2 percent from the Taiwan region, said the administration.

Cross-border transport also rose, with 8.495 million vehicles — including planes, trains, ships , and cars inspected, up 15.5 percent from the previous year.

Lin Yongsheng, a spokesperson for the National Immigration Administration, stated at a press conference on Tuesday that the administration will steadily expand institutional openness in immigration management, and introduce more effective entry and exit policies, along with new measures to improve border-crossing convenience. 

As of March 31, a total of 9.215 million foreign nationals had entered China through ports nationwide, a 40.2 percent increase from the same period last year. Of these, 6.57 million entered under visa-free policies, accounting for 71.3 percent of the total. The sharp rise has been largely attributed to the implementation of the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, which has also fueled continued growth in inbound tourism, according to Lin.