Inbound visits surge as nation extends visa-free policies

China saw a spike in foreigners' visits in 2024, a year in which the country kept stepping up efforts to beef up cross-border travel, statistics from the National Immigration Administration showed.

Last year, immigration authorities across the country saw more than 20.11 million visa-free trips to China made by foreign travelers, more than double the figure in 2023, Lyu Ning, a spokeswoman for the administration, said on Tuesday.

The authorities reported a total of 610 million inbound and outbound trips in 2024, a 43.9 percent year-on-year increase, Lyu said, adding that of these trips, 64.88 million were made by foreign citizens, up 82.9 percent year-on-year.