The 2026 China Outbound and Inbound Travel Market is being held from Wednesday to Friday at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing, bringing together more than 180 exhibitors from 31 countries and regions along with more than 3,000 professional buyers and trade visitors from home and abroad.
With the theme "Reinvigorating China Outbound, Revitalizing China Inbound", the three-day trade fair serves as a business-to-business platform for connecting players across China's outbound and inbound tourism markets.
According to Qing Qinghui, founder of the fair, the Russia National Center of Tourism Development participated with a delegation of more than 30 Russian ground handlers, showcasing a range of high-quality and new tourism resources to broaden the selection of Russia travel products available to Chinese visitors. Meanwhile, emerging destinations, including Morocco, Mauritius, Uganda, Zambia, and Sri Lanka, also made their debut at the fair.
Wu Shuang, deputy head of the Beijing Chaoyang district bureau of culture and tourism, said in her speech that hotels across the district received about 1.03 million foreign guests in the first nine months of the year, accounting for one-third of Beijing's total. She added that consumption in Chaoyang was evolving toward a model of "deep synergy, multiplied value and shared prosperity".
Wu said the district would build on its strengths as a leading hub for international exchanges over the next five years. Plans include creating a world-class international consumption environment and systematically improving the convenience, quality of offerings, visitor experience and global appeal of inbound tourism.
"It's estimated that China's outbound tourist trips will exceed 165 million this year, surpassing the 2019 level. China's outbound tourism market has fully moved past the recovery and readjustment phase and entered a new cycle of steady growth," said Liu Xiangyan, director of the International Research Institute at the China Tourism Academy, who attended the fair.
Liu added that new trends were reshaping the outbound tourism sector. Rather than choosing a destination first and planning activities around it, travelers are increasingly selecting destinations for the distinctive experiences they offer. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is transforming both the supply of and demand for tourism services.
