China Tourism Update — 8 October 2026

tourism • 8 October 2026

China’s latest travel news for tourists is dominated by **strong holiday demand, surging inbound visits, and a clear shift towards experience-led trips**. According to Xinhua, China’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival travel market has been boosted by longer break combinations, with more travellers taking multi-city and long-haul journeys, while CGTN reports that inbound tourism is seeing double-digit growth during the holiday period and one-day inbound tours have more than quadrupled year on year.[3][7] For tourists planning a trip to China, the most useful update is that **visa-free and transit-friendly travel remains a major driver of inbound growth**. CGTN says foreign nationals made 728,000 border crossings during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, up 37.7% year on year, while 247,000 entered under visa-free policies, up 32.7%; Xinhua also reports that overseas visitors spent 263.6 billion yuan in China in the first seven months of 2026, up 27.8% year on year.[5][14] Travel behaviour is also changing on the ground. CGTN reports that travellers are increasingly booking **multi-destination itineraries**, using transit hubs as destinations, and choosing immersive activities such as tea, traditional Chinese medicine and local culture experiences rather than only landmark sightseeing.[6][11] For Australian travellers, that means China is currently best approached as a place for **city-to-city itineraries, short rail hops and hands-on cultural experiences**, with strong demand around major holidays and popular gateways such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.[4][6]

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