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China is poised to become a global powerhouse as both a source and destination for international tourism.
In the first six months of 2026, China received 22.91 million visits from foreign nationals, up 20.4 percent year on year. The uptick is the result of China’s visa-free policy, which accounts for 77.7 percent of all foreign arrivals.
Earlier this year, China announced that starting February 17, 2026 all ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom can travel to its mainland for up to 30 days without a visa. The expansion in China’s unilateral visa-exemption program to include Canada and the U.K. followed recent visits to Beijing by leaders from the two countries as they seek to reset ties. According to China’s Foreign Ministry, the visa-free program – expected to run until December 31, 2026 – aims to foster people-to-people exchanges, the foundation for cross-cultural understanding, economic interdependence, and peaceful diplomatic relations.
For the United Kingdom, which sees China as an important tourist destination as well as a source market, attempts to eliminate barriers to cross-border tourism are certainly a step in the right direction. Data from the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics showed that around 620,000 British people traveled to China in 2024. According to VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, in the same year, the U.K. welcomed 463,000 visitors from China (41 percent were holiday visits, in line with the market average), generating a total expenditure of 723.8 million pounds. In the coming years, a new report from VisitBritain estimates that China’s visitor market will be worth around £1.2 billion in terms of visitor spending in 2026. The agency forecast that tourism from China to the U.K. will expand rapidly, by 20 percent annually through 2030.
