Int'l travel fair attendees in Shanghai praise China's efforts to welcome tourists

Global exhibitors and attendees at the China International Travel Mart 2024 in Shanghai lauded China's expanded visa-free policies and offered their thoughts on how the country can continue to attract more inbound tourism.

Exhibitors from more than 80 countries and regions gathered at the event, which opened on Friday, to discuss travel facilitation, new product offerings, and international-regional cooperation.

The three-day fair has attracted more than 1,000 international exhibitors and nearly 600 travel agencies, along with over 600 offline buyer-seller meetings, according to the organizers.

Themed "Nihao! China", the event has staged promotional activities to show the world why China remains a must-go destination for global travelers.

In the first three quarters of 2024, China welcomed approximately 95 million international tourists, recovering to over 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism outlines four key priorities to boost inbound tourism, including more favorable entry policies, travel convenience services, targeted international promotional campaigns, and inviting global travel operators for on site trips.

China's Foreign Ministry has simplified visa procedures, reducing processing fees by 25 percent and eliminating visa appointment requirements. Applicants now receive visas within four working days, with fingerprint exemptions further easing the process. For a growing number of countries, visa requirements have been waived altogether.

"For now, for Spanish nationals, to remove that visa is fantastic. It makes everything easy and also a little cheaper," said Julio Gonzalez Quijano, director general of Dimensiones Club in Spain.

"I think the change to the visa situation is a real positive step. My understanding is there's only about 12 months more of that existing arrangement that's under consideration. If that could be extended by longevity or made permanent, that would be a real, huge incentive for overseas travelers to come to the country," said Daniel Mcloughlin, a strategic solutions manager at FCM Travel Solutions Australia.

The country has also been striving to make experiences more convenient for international tourists. The People's Bank of China introduced an eight-language payment guide to promote inclusive financial services, from mobile payments to cash and card options.

Efforts have resulted in increased travel demand, and the Civil Aviation Administration has steadily restored international routes with over 6,000 weekly flights, meeting more than 80 percent of annual targets.

During the Travel Mart event, the Chinese Tourism Academy also shared insights into inbound travel trends, highlighting that international tourists are increasingly drawn to niche destinations, local lifestyles, and independent travel experiences.

International travel companies concur with this assessment.

"French people are really interested in gastronomy, so a gastronomic tour could be nice. And French people love to go to parts that there is not many visitors. I want to discover regions of China that I don't know well to organize some new kind of things that are not proposed in other agencies," said Sandrine Fortin, a representative for France's Asie Online.

Covering an exhibition area of 53,000 square meters, the China International Travel Mart 2024 showcases diverse fields of the tourism sector, including Chinese and international cultures and tourism, tourism-related technologies, cultural creative products, and tourism services.

Int'l travel fair attendees in Shanghai praise China's efforts to welcome tourists

China's first large-scale production line for civil aviation tires is now operational in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with an expected annual output of 100,000 high-performance tires.

On Thursday, an Airbus A320 landed smoothly in Guangxi's Guilin City, marking the first successful test flight of a civil aviation aircraft fitted with domestically produced aviation radial tires.

The aviation tire was developed by Lanyu Aircraft Tire Development Company, a subsidiary of Sinochem Holdings.

Currently, this new digital civil aviation tire production line can produce tires for six different aircraft models and 12 specifications. Previously, the tires produced by the production line had already been compatible with aircraft models such as the C909, B737, and A320.

At present, 98 percent of the aircraft tires used in China's civil aviation are imported. The operation of the new production line marks a significant step, as China has now gained the capacity to domestically produce tires for its aircraft models. "There are more than a thousand tire companies in the world, but only a dozen can produce aviation tires. The completion of this production line represents a key breakthrough in China's aviation tire manufacturing, marking the shift from zero to one. The line's capacity can meet around 40 percent of the current domestic demand," said Lu Hengyu, a principal of the Lanyu Aircraft Tire Development Company.

In addition to serving domestic customers, the company also plans to expand into overseas markets, with the goal of achieving large-scale commercial use of its tires by both domestic and international airlines.

China's first large-scale civil aviation tire production line begins operation