Farther flung

Ecuadorian-Italian Andres Rodriguez, market development director at Dragon Trail International, advises first-time visitors: "You should plan, and you should also let it go: Go with the flow."

The policy changes are prompting international travelers to change their plans and where they go in China.

The Great Wall is great, the Grand Canal is grand; and armies of tourists march to see the Terracotta Warriors every year. But the influx of inbound visitors means more of them are discovering lesser-known corners of the country.

"There was a very interesting change compared with years before. International tourists coming to China would like to cover the iconic cities like Beijing, Xi'an (in Shaanxi province) and Shanghai very much, and very few of them would go to more places in China," Zhou recalls.

"But now, after the restart of this inbound business (after COVID pandemic), we could see that lots of our clients spend their time to go to places where there were not that many international tourists before, for example, Gansu province or Nanjing in Jiangsu province or Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and even places like Shantou in Guangdong province and Yangzhou in Jiangsu."

They are often repeat visitors, he explains.