China’s efforts to bring back foreign visitors are bearing fruit, but will they be enough?

But the 29 million trips from overseas recorded to the end of November 2024 is still 40 per cent below the figure recorded in the same period in 2019, and foreign residents and visitors alike have said there are a number of barriers that are still putting off people from coming to China.

These range from practical problems such as language barriers or the “Great Firewall” to wider international political tensions.