The main venue activity of the 2026 China Tourism Day, observed annually on May 19, was held in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province.
China Tourism Day, celebrated annually on May 19, was established by China's State Council in 2011. The date marks the first entry in the travel diary of Xu Xiake (1587–1641), a renowned Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), to honor his pioneering spirit and promote tourism across the country.
A host of inclusive tourism policies, quality service improvement programs, inbound tourism promotion campaigns, and cultural tourism initiatives have been launched nationwide. Multiple sectors, including transportation, aviation, finance, and communication services, have joined the event to fuel the high-quality growth of the cultural and tourism industry. Provincial-level sub-venue activities were simultaneously rolled out across the country to enrich public travel experiences.
China's tourism market has maintained steady and robust growth with expanding scale and upgraded consumption quality. Official data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the country recorded 6.52 billion domestic tourist trips in 2025, with total tourism expenditure reaching 6.3 trillion yuan ($926.73 billion), up 16.2 percent and 9.5 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Both urban and rural tourism markets have witnessed booming development. While traditional popular destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Chongqing remain favored by travelers, niche towns, including Aershan of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Tengchong of Yunnan province, and Wuyuan of Jiangxi province, have risen rapidly with unique natural scenery and profound cultural heritage, forming a diversified all-for-one tourism pattern across the nation.
The tourism industry is shifting from traditional sightseeing to immersive and personalized experiences. Study tours, rural tourism, and urban micro-vacations have become mainstream travel choices. City walks, night tourism, and immersive cultural experiences have greatly energized urban consumption. China's study tour market reached 179.1 billion yuan in 2024, with over 581 national-level study and research bases for primary and secondary students in operation.
To benefit the public and boost travel vitality, authorities have unveiled more than 9,000 tourism preferential measures nationwide for 2026, with over 1 billion yuan in subsidies covering ticket discounts, free scenic access and consumption incentives.
China's inbound tourism sector has also achieved remarkable recovery. Inbound tourist arrivals and consumption surged 39.2 percent year-on-year in 2025. Optimized entry-exit services, convenient payment systems and multilingual services have greatly improved the overseas travel experience in China.
