Tourists take photos in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing on Sunday. WANG XIN/FOR CHINA DAILY
As China's visa-free policies continue to deliver dividends, the country's inbound tourism market is warming up this spring, with travelers venturing beyond first-tier cities to second- and third-tier destinations and shifting from traditional sightseeing to immersive cultural experiences.
Instead of merely visiting widely popular sites like the Terracotta Warriors or climbing the Great Wall, foreign visitors are stepping into intangible cultural heritage workshops, donning traditional hanfu, learning to make dumplings and even firing porcelain. From "seeing China" to "being Chinese for a day", cultural experiences are emerging as a new engine for inbound tourism.
A short video recently went viral on social media, showing Zhang Shupeng, known as Asia's first wingsuit pilot, leaping from Yuhu Peak at Zhangjiajie's Tianmen Mountain and flying at more than 200 kilometers per hour through Tianmen Mountain Square in Hunan province.
The video, posted by a foreign blogger on Instagram, garnered more than 100 million views and nearly 5 million likes within days, with comments in multiple languages expressing awe.
Ding Yunjuan, deputy manager of the marketing department at Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area, said that the site attracts extreme sports enthusiasts while offering foreign visitors the chance to watch world-class events such as the annual World Wingsuit League Championship, as well as parkour contests and bicycle speed races down the mountain stairs.
The scenic area has also enriched its cultural tourism offerings. Its mountain-gorge theater stages Tianmen Fox Fairy, the world's first live musical performance set in a high-mountain canyon. The show is based on the Xiangxi folk tale The Legend of Woodcutter Liu Hai and centers on themes of oriental love aesthetics.
Between 2024 and 2025, overseas tourists accounted for 60 to 70 percent of the show's audience. In 2025, it received 250,000 overseas visitors, a 45 percent year-on-year increase, covering more than 120 countries and regions. During the first performances of 2026, overseas visitors made up 70 percent of the audience, Ding said.
The scenic area welcomed 162,100 overseas visitors in the first quarter of 2026, a 26 percent year-on-year increase. The top four source markets were South Korea, China's Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia, she added.
The park has strengthened English training for its personnel, provided translation devices for front-line employees and introduced guided tours in Chinese, English and Korean.
In Lijiang, Yunnan province, during the Sanduo Festival — a traditional celebration of the Naxi ethnic group honoring the guardian deity Sanduo — two tourists from New York and Los Angeles, Iren Helperin and Soheila Halimi, said they were drawn to the city's ancient town and ethnic culture and praised its safe and friendly travel environment.
"We felt very safe here. As a tourist, safety is very important because you're not familiar with the city or the culture," Helperin said. "In Europe, you have to wrap your phone with a string so if somebody tries to grab it, you can pull it back. Here you don't have to worry. I can carry my phone and take pictures."
A German couple, Evgeni Knispel and Denise Nagel, who were also visiting Lijiang, said they discovered the city while searching online for trips to China. They praised its cleanliness, pleasant weather and well-preserved old town.
"It's unbelievably clean everywhere," Nagel said. Knispel added that while Lijiang is touristy, it is less crowded than destinations in Thailand, and he would recommend it to friends and family.
Lyu Ning, dean of the School of Tourism Sciences at Beijing International Studies University, said that smaller cities preserve more authentic natural scenery and folk customs, meeting foreign tourists' demand for uniqueness and authenticity.
Meanwhile, China's transport and service infrastructure has expanded into lower-tier cities. High-speed rail now reaches third — and fourth-tier cities, including Wuyishan in Fujian province and Huangshan in Anhui province. Regional air networks have improved, while rural tourism roads and scenic area shuttle services have helped solve the "last mile" problem, she said.
"Overseas communication has shifted from official promotion to authentic experience sharing on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Foreign visitors' real-life posts are more influential and relatable than traditional advertising," Lyu said.
On the shift from "seeing China" to "being Chinese for a day", Lyu said it reflects a move from curiosity-driven sightseeing to deeper cultural empathy.
"Young overseas tourists, especially Generation Z, no longer want to just check off landmarks; they want to participate in Chinese daily life," she said.
"This demand change is essentially a shift from knowing China to understanding China," Lyu said. Immersive experiences turn Chinese culture from abstract symbols into tangible, shareable moments, creating a word-of-mouth chain from experience to emotional resonance and then sharing.
Experiential products are becoming the core competitiveness of the inbound tourism market, moving away from resource-dependent models to creativity-driven offerings. They not only enrich the product mix but also increase added value and repeat visits, as tourists form emotional connections and return for specific experiences, she added.
春节初一至初七逾130万人次访港 内地游客占近九成 中新网2月18日电 据香港《文汇报》报道，据香港特区政府入境处统计，今年年初一至年初七(2月10日至16日)共录得逾130万人次旅客访港，接近2019年春节的水平(140万人 哈尔滨冰雪大世界日前正式闭园。暂别冬日火爆“出圈”的“尔滨”，东北正迎来全面振兴的春天。从全面振兴的视角研究和探讨“尔滨现象”，具有特殊意义。这是因为，全面振兴的关键在于产业转型发展 作者：王成（广西师范大学副教授、广西高校人文社科重点研究基地广西师范大学马克思主义理论与区域实践研究中心研究员）日前，习近平总书记在主持中共中央政治局第十一次集体学习时指出：“发展新质生 西安青岛居民3月6日起可办理往来港澳“个人旅游签注” 中新网2月23日电 据中华人民共和国出入境管理局网站消息，近日，国务院批准增加陕西省西安市、山东省青岛市为内地赴港澳“个人游”城市。中华人民共和国出入 中新经纬2月22日电 据国家市场监督管理总局网站消息，自新国标发布实施后，婴幼儿配方乳粉(以下称婴配乳粉)产品配方按新国标注册攻坚工作进展顺利，截至目前，共计1127个配方通过注册。 市场监管总局表示，婴幼儿配方食 贵州毕节：蓄势赋能谋发展 高质量推进新型工业化 中新网贵州毕节2月22日电 题：贵州毕节：蓄势赋能谋发展 高质量推进新型工业化 作者 高大涛 陈曦 中国龙年春节假期，贵州省毕节市黔西市新仁乡化屋村游人如织。 。本文链接：Tourism enjoys robust growthhttp://www.sushuapos.com/show-5-96849-0.html
声明：本网站为非营利性网站，本网页内容由互联网博主自发贡献，不代表本站观点，本站不承担任何法律责任。天上不会到馅饼，请大家谨防诈骗！若有侵权等问题请及时与本网联系，我们将在第一时间删除处理。
下一篇： 双向奔赴 讲好中国故事