China's Online Transition Becomes a Bottleneck for Foreigners Entering the Country, But Challenges Don't Stop There (AI Translation)
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- Despite China's efforts to boost inbound tourism, foreign visitors face challenges with mobile payments, credit card acceptance, and complex registration processes for accommodations and attractions.
- China has relaxed visa policies and introduced unilateral visa exemptions for several countries to facilitate travel, but the recovery of inbound tourism is slow due to lingering effects of the pandemic and anti-globalization sentiments.
- Inbound tourism in China is hindered by a lack of international flights, high ticket prices, outdated group tour products, and insufficient promotion to younger global audiences.
文｜财新周刊 孙嫣然 包云红 关聪
By Caixin Weekly's Sun Yanran, Bao Yunhong, Guan Cong
为应对2023年11月在中国的三周旅行，挪威人Knut Anders Finnset早早做了攻略，下载了支付宝国际版，绑定信用卡，以应对日常支付、订车票、购买景区门票等。“我查了一些旅行博客和主流论坛Reddit才知道要这么做，对于不习惯移动支付的老年人来说就会很不方便。”
To prepare for his three-week trip to China in November 2023, Norwegian Knut Anders Finnset meticulously planned ahead, downloading the international version of Alipay and linking his credit card to handle daily payments, book train tickets, and purchase attraction entrance fees. "I learned about this necessity through some travel blogs and mainstream forums like Reddit. It would be quite inconvenient for older people who are not accustomed to mobile payments," he said.
过去几个月，中国持续推出入境旅游促进措施，但国内移动支付盛行、对Visa（维萨）等国际信用卡支付接受度不高、景区信息登记要求繁琐，导致当前外国游客入境旅游仍有不少困难。支付宝国际版是当前相对便利的打包式解决方案，但对外国人来说，护照注册、绑定信用卡、实际支付等系列流程依然复杂，任一环节都可能被卡住。
In recent months, China has continuously rolled out measures to promote inbound tourism. However, the prevalence of domestic mobile payments, the low acceptance of international credit cards such as Visa, and the cumbersome requirements for registering information at tourist sites have resulted in considerable difficulties for foreign tourists traveling in China. Alipay's international version is a relatively convenient packaged solution at present, but for foreigners, the series of processes including passport registration, credit card binding, and actual payment remain complex, with potential obstacles at any stage.
另一方面，入境旅游的供给侧秩序仍在缓慢恢复当中。而近年来反全球化盛行，也导致中国作为国际旅游目的地的吸引力有所减弱。据国家移民管理局数据，2023年，全国边检机关共查验出入境人员4.24亿人次，恢复至2019年的63.28%，；其中上半年查验出入境人员仅1.68亿人次，由此推测，入境人数在下半年才加速恢复。从中细看，外国人出入境恢复更为缓慢，2023年，全国边检机关查验外国人出入境3547.8万人次，仅恢复至2019年的36.32%。
On the other hand, the supply side order of inbound tourism is still slowly recovering. The prevalence of anti-globalization in recent years has also led to a diminished attraction of China as an international travel destination. According to data from the National Immigration Administration, in 2023, national border inspection agencies checked a total of 424 million entries and exits, recovering to 63.28% of the level in 2019; among these, only 168 million entries and exits were inspected in the first half of the year, suggesting that the number of inbound travelers accelerated in recovery during the second half. A closer look reveals that the recovery of foreign nationals' entries and exits has been even slower; in 2023, national border inspection agencies checked 35.478 million entries and exits by foreigners, which is only 36.32% of the figure from 2019.
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