Peak summer in China. Tickets for attractions like the Forbidden City in Beijing are selling out in minutes. Foreign tourists, however, are few.
Visa hassles, a lack of flights, idiosyncratic payment systems and the language barrier also limit China’s appeal to tourists from places such as North America and Europe.
China and the US have agreed to raise the number of round-trip flights to 24 a week by the end of October. Previously, the number of weekly flights between the two was 340.
The main factor putting Chinese travelers off overseas trips is concern about safety in other countries, where they are fearful of getting an unfriendly reception, according to an April survey by Dragon Tail International. With the sluggish economy also putting the brakes on spending, Chinese are getting their travel fixes closer to home.
The concerns Chinese tourists have about traveling overseas are reflected the other way, for visitors coming into the country. A sense of distrust and caution developed over the pandemic as relations between China and other countries soured.
Another factor making China daunting for visitors is the use of digital payment platforms that are unique to the country. Most vendors — from street stalls to large department stores — only accept local payment systems such as WeChat Pay and Alipay.
Getting visas can also be a challenge for many visitors to China, requiring going to an embassy or application center to queue — sometimes for several hours — and submit documents, and then returning days later to collect them.
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