The short version: On September 24, 2026, China's State Council Information Office held a press conference on culture and tourism for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Wang Jianhua said the next five years will focus on making travel to China easier — smoother visas, payments, tax refunds, guided tours, accommodation and transport — and on building richer, more culture-heavy experiences. The plan names 32 tourism hub cities, opens up marine tourism for the first time, and pushes AI travel companions. Officials set a target of 190 million inbound visits a year by 2030. Here is what it actually means for your trip.
This was not a visa announcement and it did not change any rule overnight. It was a roadmap — the first detailed look at how China intends to manage tourism from 2026 to 2030, delivered at a State Council Information Office press conference in Beijing under the banner "starting the 15th Five-Year Plan."
Wang Jianhua, vice minister of culture and tourism, framed the whole five years around one idea: deepening the integration of culture and tourism. In practice that means two things for foreign visitors. First, a continued push to remove the friction points that still frustrate travellers — entry paperwork, payment apps, tax refunds, language barriers. Second, a push to turn tourism from a sightseeing exercise into a cultural experience: heritage trails, intangible-heritage workshops, museum exhibitions and immersive performances.
The officials at the table matter, because each signalled a different part of the plan. Wang set the main line; Chen Binbin, the ministry's spokesperson, spoke about art and cultural supply; Miao Muyang, head of industrial development, covered technology and AI; and Man Hongwei, head of resource development, laid out where tourism will physically expand — including, for the first time, out to sea.
Why this matters to you: The plan is the framework that determines where the money, staff and English signage go for the next five years. If a city is on the hub list or a province is a "key destination," that is where new international flights, hotels and foreign-card payment terminals will appear first.
The announcements were backed by data, and the data explains the ambition.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Inbound tourist trips in 2025 | 154 million, up 17.1% year on year |
| Inbound traveler spending in 2025 | Over US$130 billion, up nearly 40% |
| 2030 target — annual inbound visits | 190 million |
| 2030 target — annual inbound spending | Over US$150 billion |
| Domestic trips in 2025 | 6.52 billion (record), 6.3 trillion yuan spent |
| Registered museums by end of 2025 | 7,188 |
| National-level intangible heritage items | 1,557, with 3,994 representative inheritors |
Those targets are not abstract. They are the reason the last two years have brought a steady drumbeat of visa-free expansions, the launch of digital arrival cards and the rollout of foreign-card linking inside Alipay and WeChat Pay. The plan simply formalises the direction and adds a deadline.
Wang named the six areas the ministry will keep improving for international visitors. This is the concrete core of the announcement.
| Area | What to expect by 2030 |
|---|---|
| Visas | Continued streamlining of procedures and expansion of visa-free arrangements; more online handling |
| Payments | Wider acceptance of foreign cards and smoother QR setup for overseas wallets |
| Tax refunds | Faster, more convenient departure refunds, including instant refunds at more outlets |
| Guided tours | Better quality and availability of English-language guiding, including in secondary cities |
| Accommodation | More hotels registered and comfortable hosting foreign guests, plus clearer registration rules |
| Transport | Better connections between gateways and destinations, and easier booking for foreign passports |
The guided-tour point is quietly important. Foreign visitors have long complained that English-speaking guides are concentrated in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Guilin, and scarce almost everywhere else. A five-year, national push to lift guiding standards implies the shortage is being treated as a service gap rather than a local problem.
Already underway: Since December 2023 China has expanded unilateral visa-free entry from six countries to 50 countries (30-day stays, valid through 31 December 2026; Russia to end-2027), and extended its 240-hour transit visa-free scheme to 57 countries after adding Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam in August 2026. In March 2026 a package of measures optimised departure tax refunds, encouraged everyday service apps to add multilingual versions and further improved visa procedures.
Perhaps the most useful part of the plan for travellers who have already "done" Beijing and Shanghai is the geography. The 15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Tourism Powerhouse identifies:
Alongside these, the plan calls for greater development of county-level tourism and smaller destinations, plus more urban leisure and rural vacation products. This matches the pattern already visible in the data: foreign visitors are spreading out. Travel platform Qunar reported foreign-passport holders booking inbound flights to 160 Chinese cities in the first half of 2026, and homestay platform Tujia said foreign travellers stayed in homestays across 330 cities in 31 provincial-level regions, with Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai and Shanxi among the fastest-growing.
Translation for a traveller: the "emerging city" trips that currently require effort — second-tier capitals, rural homestays, western provinces — are exactly where the state is now directing support. Expect better English signage, more foreign-card terminals and more bookable experiences in these places over the next five years.
For the first time, a Chinese tourism plan explicitly calls for expanding marine tourism space. The proposal is a north–south marine tourism belt with product lines covering:
China already has coastal drawcards — Qingdao, Xiamen, Hainan's Sanya, the Zhuhai and Greater Bay Area waterfronts — but they have been marketed as individual cities rather than as a connected coastal product. A national belt suggests coordinated itineraries, better inter-city coastal transport and more cruise and yacht options for visitors who want a sea-based trip rather than a city-based one. For anyone who has already seen the inland classics, this is one of the clearest new directions to watch.
Miao Muyang, the ministry's industrial development chief, outlined where technology enters the picture — and it is broader than a single chatbot. The planned applications include:
During the previous plan period the ministry set up 22 technology innovation centres involving enterprises, universities and research institutions — the groundwork for exactly this kind of deployment. For a foreign visitor, the realistic near-term benefits are translated, context-aware information at heritage sites, smarter reservation systems, and apps that can suggest a route around the crowds at, say, the Forbidden City on a holiday weekend. Several of these tools are already arriving in pilot form; the plan makes them a national priority rather than a novelty.
Practical note: Do not wait for perfect AI. The tools that work today for foreign visitors are translation apps, the official 12306 rail app, Alipay/WeChat Pay with an international card, and the "Nihao China" brand's growing English resources. Treat the AI layer as a bonus, not a dependency.
Wang said the ministry will promote the "Nihao China" tourism brand overseas and develop more products that combine Chinese tradition with contemporary life. That is the demand-side of the plan, and it points at a specific kind of trip: not the coach-and-flag tour, but hands-on culture.
The plan foreshadows more of what is already appearing in the market:
Internationally, the ministry will use its six Silk Road alliances (theatres, museums, arts festivals, libraries, art museums and tourism cities) plus the China International Travel Mart to build partnerships. It also plans to host a UNESCO conference on intangible cultural heritage, pursue further world-heritage and intangible-heritage nominations, and support more Chinese villages applying to the UN Tourism Best Tourism Villages programme. Each of those tends to create a new "must-visit" that sits well outside the standard itinerary.
If you are travelling in the next twelve months, here is the state of play as of late September 2026 — the plan's foundations, already live:
| Item | Status (September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Unilateral visa-free entry | 50 countries, 30 days, valid to 31 Dec 2026 (Russia to 2027) |
| 240-hour transit visa-free | 57 countries; added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam in August 2026 |
| Digital arrival card | Available; complete it online before you fly |
| Foreign-card payments | Visa/Mastercard etc. can be linked inside Alipay and WeChat Pay |
| Tax refunds | Instant-refund outlets expanding; small-amount spot checks and paperless processing since July 2026 |
| Rail for foreign passports | Bookable through the official English-language channels; passport scans at the gate |
The broader trend is consistent. Beijing recorded roughly 15,300 daily foreign entries in September 2026, up about 22% on August, with visa-free and temporary-permit entries making up around 71.7% of arrivals. Nationally, foreign nationals made nearly 61.3 million border crossings in January–August 2026, up 19.5%, with visa-free entries accounting for 77.6% of the total. The machine is already running; the five-year plan is about scaling and steering it.
You cannot book a policy, but you can position yourself to benefit from one. Several concrete actions follow from the plan:
One caution: this is a plan, not a schedule. Chinese five-year plans set direction; specific policies arrive separately, sometimes city by city, and details (opening hours, refund rules, hub lists) can change. Confirm current requirements through official channels before you travel, and treat anything more than a year out as directional.
Does the new plan change visa rules right now?
No. The September 24 announcement is a five-year roadmap, not a new regulation. Current rules stand: 30-day visa-free entry for eligible passports from 50 countries, and 240-hour transit visa-free for 57 countries.
What is the single biggest change for foreign travellers?
The emphasis on smoothing the six friction points — visas, payments, tax refunds, guided tours, accommodation and transport. Payments in particular have already transformed: foreign cards now link directly into Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Will there be more English-speaking guides?
That is the intent. Better guiding is named as one of the six service areas, which should gradually extend quality English guiding beyond the big four cities.
What are the "32 hub cities"?
They are the primary tourism gateways and growth centres named in the 15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Tourism Powerhouse, alongside 33 key tourism cities and 23 distinctive destinations. The specific city list is a planning document rather than a travel list; watch for the ones near your interests.
Is the 190 million visits target realistic?
It is ambitious but built on real momentum. Inbound trips hit 154 million in 2025 (up 17.1%) and are still climbing. Whether it is met matters less than the direction: more capacity, better service and more destinations are coming regardless.
Will AI replace tour guides?
Not in this plan. AI appears as an aid — translation, interpretation, itinerary planning, crowd guidance — not a replacement for licensed guides, whose quality the plan separately aims to improve.