SHENZHEN’S inbound tourism bookings for the upcoming May Day holiday have increased by 66% year on year, according to the leading Chinese online travel agency Ctrip.

Related tourism agencies have predicted that Shenzhen will be among the top eight popular destinations for inbound tourism on the mainland, as reported by Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.

Shenzhen has become one of the major destinations for foreigners traveling to China due to mutual visa exemption agreements, convenient customs clearance procedures, and the resumption of many air routes.

According to statistics, Shenzhen received over 1.28 million foreign tourists in 2023. Among them, countries in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have become the main sources of inbound tourism to Shenzhen.

The influx of new foreign tourists to Shenzhen primarily originates from Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia.

The increase in overseas tourists has boosted demand for foreign language tour guides, especially those speaking less common languages.

At the end of March, the foreign international cruise ship “Pacific World” docked at the Shekou Cruise Homeport. A local travel agency received more than 1,400 Japanese tourists who came ashore for sightseeing.

In order to meet the needs for tour guides, the travel agency selected 15 students from Shenzhen Polytechnic University who are majoring in business Japanese.

As the inbound tourism market burgeons, Shenzhen’s outbound tourism market is also on the rise. Outbound flight searches via the Ctrip platform have surged by 56% year on year, according to the report.

Additionally, large cruise ships will return to their home ports in China during the May Day holiday. It is expected that the domestic cruise market will usher in a boom during the May Day holiday.

(Wang Jingli)