China has seen continuous surge in inbound tourism this year with frequent visitors emerging as a significant driver of the booming trend.
The country's thriving inbound tourism is largely attributed to its relaxed visa policies and other encouraging measures, particularly the 144-hour visa-free policy, which allows visitors from 54 countries to enter China and stay for up to 144 hours without a visa for short-term activities.
"I think there are so much to explore in China. Whenever you go to different city in China, people are completely different," said a tourist from Poland who is enjoying a cruise ride in Shanghai.
A French tourist who is enjoying his stay in Yangshuo County of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region shared that when he and his wife visited China a year ago, obtaining a visa was still quite cumbersome. However, this time, the experience has been completely different.
"My son [and] my daughter visiting us for fourteen days. It is that easy. They just say we are tourists. Take the passport and everything, fill the form and you get the stamp. It's really easy," he said.
Another tourist from Italy expressed hope that the visa-free period could be further extended in the future, noting that six days is simply too short to explore the vast and beautiful country.
"I decided to come for three weeks because China is very very big and in three weeks you just look at this little little [bit]," she said.
Statistics show that resort Yangshuo County alone welcomed 149,900 foreign visitors from January to June this year, marking a staggering 709.69 percent increase year-on-year.
Nationwide, the first seven months of the year saw 17.25 million foreign visitors entering China through various ports, an increase of 129.9 percent compared to the same period last year. Additionally, a total of 846,000 port visas were issued, up 182.9 percent year-on-year.
China sees continuous surge in inbound tourism with relaxed visa policies
China sees continuous surge in inbound tourism with relaxed visa policies
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 41,118, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement released on Thursday.
During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 34 people and wounded 96 others, bringing the total death toll to 41,118 and injuries to more than 95,125 since the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out last October, it added.
Israeli military operations are continuing across Gaza and the West Bank.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.
An Israeli warplane struck a residential house in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing three people, said Palestinian medical sources.
Seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli aircraft in two attacks on the Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City, according to local sources and eyewitnesses.
The Civil Defense Authority in Gaza reported in a press statement that its crews recovered the body of a Palestinian woman and a seriously injured person following an Israeli attack near Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City.
In Rafah, southern Gaza, Civil Defense crews recovered the bodies of four people, three of whom were from the same family, after they were targeted by a missile in the Al-Zahour neighborhood in the center of the city. The bodies were transferred to the hospital, according to a separate statement released by the Civil Defense Authority.
Medical sources reported that the bodies of four people were transferred to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, following the bombing of a residential house in the city.
On the same day, the Israeli army also conducted military operations in Tulkarm, and Tubas in the northern West Bank, destroying infrastructure and Palestinian homes.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it has "dismantled" Hamas' Rafah Brigade in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
The military stated that its troops killed more than 2,000 "militants" in Rafah, including Mahmoud Hamdan, commander of Hamas' Tel al-Sultan Battalion in the city.
It added that its operations destroyed approximately 13 kilometers of tunnels buried beneath Rafah and about 80 percent of the underground tunnel routes along the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 41,118: health authorities
