Tourists enjoy the ice and snow sports in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang province. (PHOTO: VCG)

Edited by GONG Qian

Robust consumption, especially in the tourism sector, is playing a big role in China's accelerated economic recovery. Thanks to a multitude of supportive policies, the country's tourism market recovered steadily in 2023, and tourist arrivals and spending showed bright results, said South China Morning Post.

Unsurprisingly, tourism keeps fueling the economic momentum in 2024. Commenting on the outlook for China in 2024, China's online travel agency Trip.com Group's CEO Sun Jie told Forbes that she was upbeat about a continued recovery in China's travel industry this year — both for domestic travel and international inbound and outbound spending.

Results of the just concluded New Year holiday are self-evident, with toursim injecting life back into China's economy at the calender turned over a new page. According to figures by Trip.com, the number of domestic travel orders for the New Year holiday increased by 168 percent year-on-year, while the amount of outbound travel orders increased by 388 percent during this period.

"Travel in China flourished over the three-day New Year's holiday, with 135 million domestic tourist trips, up 155 percent from last year, while domestic tourism revenue rose to 79.73 billion RMB," said Reuters, citing data from China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Tourism revenue tripled from the same period in 2022 and was up 5.6 percent from the New Year holiday in 2019.

During the New Year holiday, more than 128 million passenger trips were made on China's transport network, up 78.4 percent from 2023 and 33.1 percent from 2022, said Reuters.

In addition to the boom in domestic tourism and consumption, China has also made concrete efforts to boost cross-border travel in 2023, said Economy Middle East. For example, China has improved entry and exit procedures to unilaterally expand the list of countries eligible for visa-free access.

In December 2023, 214,000 people from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia entered China, up 28.5 percent from November, according to China's National Immigration Administration.

The jump followed in the wake of a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from the above six countries, allowing them to enter China for a stay of up to 15 days without a visa, from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024. More than 77 percent of the ordinary passport holders via visa-free channels visited China for travel or business activities.

According to The Edge Malaysia, a leading financial news organization in the country, the relaxation of visa entry for tourists from China, India and Middle East countries and better flight connectivity will drive the resurgence in Malaysian tourism.

Apart from easing visa burdens, an increase in airline traffic between China and the U.S. is expected after the two countries' leaders agreed to increase the number of flights.

Starting from January 1, China simplified application documents required for tourist visas (L-visa). Travelers from the U.S. no longer need to submit proof for round-trip air tickets, hotel reservations, their itinerary or an invitation letter to apply for a tourist visa, as confirmed by the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., according to CNN.

"A faster than expected restoration of China-U.S. flights is a key catalyst for the recovery of international flights," Parash Jain, head of transport research for Asia-Pacific at HSBC Holdings, told the Strait Times.

With China continuously deepening its opening-up policies, both the country's inbound and outbound tourism will be significant in pushing for its economic growth.