Journal of China Tourism Research

Reimagining China’s Inbound Tourism: Policy Innovations, Digital Landscapes, and Contemporary Experiences

Journal of China Tourism Research (JCTR) publishes the latest research on tourism related to China and its citizens and encourages interdisciplinary scholarship and commentary. It provides a rich forum for the exchange of fresh information and ideas among academics and practitioners; fosters and enhances cutting-edge research activities that advance tourism knowledge, and discusses the relevance of tourism to the Chinese society.

Tourism is of great significance for promoting economic development, showcasing a nation’s image and soft power, and enhancing cross-cultural understanding. In particular, inbound tourism is a critical means of projecting China to the world and elevating its international influence (Dai, 2025). China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) explicitly calls for accelerating the nation’s development into a “tourism powerhouse.” Driven by this mandate, China has entered a new era of open–door initiatives. Significantly, the recent implementation of 144–hour visa-free transit policies for foreign nationals from over 50 countries has triggered a substantial paradigm shift in cross–border mobility. Consequently, the inbound market has accelerated rapidly, with remarkable growth observed across international, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan markets, recording approximately 130 million inbound tourists and a total expenditure of 94.2 billion US dollars in 2024.

Consistent with Wu et al.’s (2019) observations, research on China’s inbound tourism continues to thrive in macro-level explorations. This body of work provides indispensable insights into the spatial and temporal distribution and forecasting of tourist demand (Yang & Zhang, 2019; Mou et al., 2020), the complex evolution of tourist flow networks (Shao et al., 2025), and the transformative impact of infrastructure like High-Speed Rail (HSR) on trans-regional mobility (Li et al., 2023). In recent years, studies have further explored macro factors influencing tourism flow, such as fiscal decentralization (Tao et al., 2026), international students intake (Li & Pu, 2023), the establishment of Confucius Institutes (Qiang et al., 2019), and air pollution (Deng et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2020), alongside the economic impacts of inbound tourists (Liu & Nijkamp, 2019; Luo et al., 2022).

Simultaneously, China’s rapid technological leap into a highly sophisticated, mobile-first society has fundamentally altered the micro-level tourism experience. From algorithmic destination marketing to navigating a cashless and super-app-based local ecosystem, the “digital realities” of traveling in China today differ markedly from those of the past. Thus, there is a pressing need to update behavior, marketing, and relevant social science research to enhance how destination marketing organizations and multi-level governments understand contemporary international travelers.

In response to national policies and this contemporary knowledge gap, this Special Issue invites submissions that critically explore inbound tourism across international, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan markets. This Special Issue foregrounds the institutional, experiential, technological, and political dimensions of this evolving landscape. We welcome theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions examining how tourism systems in China can be transformed to meet the diverse needs of inbound tourists. We particularly encourage research detailing inbound tourists’ psychological, embodied, and affective experiences before, during, and after visiting China, as well as studies that contextualize border–crossing as a form of politics or dissect the socio-cultural and geopolitical frictions visitors encounter.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Spatiotemporal evolution and mobility dynamics
   Analyzes the shifting patterns of inbound tourist flows under the influence of visa policies and infrastructure (e.g., HSR networks). We seek studies on spatial diffusion, entry-exit network resilience, and the modeling of multi-destination travel trajectories.
2. Economic performance and regional sustainability of inbound tourism
   Spatial-economic footprint within global value chains, regional supply chain efficiency, synergy between international tourism and rural revitalization, and strategies for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through high-value markets.
3. Institutional governance and inbound entry experiences
   Spatial effects of visa-free regimes and payment facilitation, efficiency of customs procedures and biometric verification (e-gates), governance of border tourism zones, and the impact of policy innovation on reducing institutional friction and enhancing tourist satisfaction.
4. Tourism information seeking and search environments
   Inbound tourists’ information access, social media usage, evaluation of travel information, and the issue of trust on Chinese and global travel information platforms (e.g., Trip.com, Xiaohongshu, Google, TikTok, WeChat, and local super-apps).
5. Actual travel experiences of international visitors in China
   Destination image, satisfaction, service encounters, language accessibility, navigation challenges, digital payment, cultural shocks, and positive disconfirmations.
6. International tourists experiencing Chinese cultural tourism
   Engagement with heritage sites, museums, and intangible cultural heritage. Issues of authenticity, cross-cultural meaning-making, the tension between tradition and hyper-modernity, and the role of social media in reshaping spatial imaginations.
7. Readiness of cultural and tourism attractions to host international visitors
   Multilingual signage, payment facilitation for international visitors, staff training, accessibility, and relevant service design in tourism attractions.
8. Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Integration
   Cross-border mobility, high-speed rail and bridge infrastructure, multi-destination itineraries, and the nuanced inbound tourism experiences of Hong Kong and Macao residents traveling to the mainland within the GBA context.
9. Homecoming and diaspora tourism
   Second-generation migrants, diaspora Chinese, overseas students, and returnees reconnect with ancestral places through the lenses of emotional geographies, nostalgia, identity, and the role of diaspora tourism in regional revitalization.