Beijing, while it's hot: Russians are buying tickets to China due to the introduction of visa-free travel

After the cancellation of visas to China, the demand for flights and accommodation bookings has almost doubled, booking services told Izvestia. In general, the popularity of holidays in this country in the fall of 2025 increased by at least 30% compared to 2024. The information about which vacation destinations Russian tourists choose in China and how demand will change is in the Izvestia article.

How has the demand for tickets changed

Starting from September 15, 2025, China will introduce a visa-free regime for Russians for 30 days. After the announcement of the new tourist regime, the demand for flights to this country increased 1.9 times, Yandex Travel told Izvestia. The number of searches for tickets from Russia to China increased by 350% compared to the average values of the last month, Aviasales added.

"Compared to the same period in 2024, Russians began to buy flights to China 1.3 times more often," the service said. — Half of the requests are for passengers from Moscow. They are also actively looking for tickets from St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg.

Ticket sales to China in the period from September 15 to December 31, 2025 increased by 34% compared to 2024, the Tutu travel service added.

— Previously, a trip to China seemed like a curiosity, but now more and more travelers are going there. However, tickets may be more affordable than in other countries. Therefore, China is increasingly being chosen for historical and cultural tourism and beach holidays," said Artem Kuzmin, Deputy Director for Aviation Market Development at Tutu.

As reported to Izvestia in the Kupibilet air and railway ticket purchase service, in general, the demand for flights to China has increased 2.5 times over the past year.

According to the Alliance of Travel Agencies of Russia, the number of search queries about travel to China has doubled, but the number of purchases has increased by only 30%.

The key growth factor will be the abolition of visas, there will be no need to fill out paper documents, said Alexander Musikhin, co-head of the Committee on Inbound Tourism of the Russian Union of Travel Industry.

— It took a lot of time. In addition, it provides significant savings.: The cost of an e-visa is about $50, while the fee for a regular visa exceeds $150.

Currently, according to Musikhin, air traffic between Russia and China has about 150 flights per week from various cities. The final dynamics of the tourist flow will depend on the development of flight programs and the pricing policy of carriers.

Where and how tourists prefer to rest

The demand for holidays in China this fall — in the period from September 15 to November 30 — increased by 27% compared to 2024, Izvestia was informed by the online hotel and apartment booking service Ostrovok. They clarified that this is one of the highest growth rates among all foreign destinations.

On average, tourists book accommodation in China for four nights. Most often they choose four-star hotels, the service noted.

Tourists make more than half of hotel bookings in China together — two adults without children account for 59% of the total. Every fourth booking is for one tourist. For families with children — 7%, for companies of adults — 6%.

According to Kupibilet, flights to Beijing and Shanghai are in the highest demand among Russians among Chinese destinations. The average price of a round-trip flight to Beijing is about 45 thousand rubles, and to Shanghai — 66 thousand per person.

— China entered the top 3 fastest growing destinations in terms of demand in 2024-2025. The cancellation of the visa regime will attract even more new tourists, including those who had not considered such a trip before, the press service of the service noted.— We believe that the abolition of the visa regime can lead to an increase in demand for China by about 30% from year to year.

According to "Fly.<url>", the level of demand for tours to China with arrivals during the autumn is 73% higher than in 2024. The average check for tours increased by almost 14% to 166.6 thousand rubles.

Book a tour to Hainan for two for seven nights with departure in the first half of October from Moscow and accommodation in a four—star hotel with breakfast starting from 109 thousand rubles, in a five-star hotel - from 120.7 thousand rubles.

A week—long tour to Beijing for two with accommodation in a four-star hotel with breakfast can cost 125.3 thousand rubles, in a five-star hotel - 150.6 thousand rubles.

The cost of a tour to Shanghai for two people averages from 127.7 to 146 thousand.

The level of demand for tours to China with bookings from September 1 to September 10 and arrivals throughout 2025 is 51% higher than the same figures for bookings from August 21 to August 31, they noted.

According to Yandex Travel, in the ten days since the announcement of the visa-free regime for Russians, the number of booked hotels in China with a check-in date of September 15 and later increased by one and a half times compared to the previous ten days.

Most often, tourists booked hotels in Shanghai and Beijing, and hotels in Sanya, Guangzhou and Hong Kong were also popular.

According to Tutu, the demand for housing in China in the period from September 15 to December 31, 2025 doubled compared to the same period last year.

How are tour operators adapting to the increased demand for China

The abolition of the visa regime with China opens up new opportunities for Russian tourists. This reduces costs and simplifies travel planning, allowing you to combine a beach holiday in Hainan with excursions to Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, the head of international projects at Fly told Izvestia.<url>" and Lyubov Voronina, Managing Director of the Let's Fly tour operator.

"Previously, visa formalities limited the flexibility of travel and made combined tours less accessible to tourists," she stressed. — In the near future, we plan to develop and promote comprehensive programs that allow us to see different parts of the country in one trip.

Previously, combined city tours were available only for visa-free group trips, Dmitry Gorin, Vice President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), recalled.

The PCT estimates that the growth of tourist trips to mainland China will be 25% year-on-year.

— Demand will grow due to the wide network of routes and the possibilities of direct and transit flights, — Dmitry Gorin explained.

According to him, China is geographically well located for traveling to the regions of Southeast Asia.

According to Artur Muradian, Vice President of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) and CEO of the Space Travel tour operator, demand for tickets to China increased even before the announcement of the visa-free regime.

"In the first half of 2025, the increase was 30-40%," he said. — We are confident that the dynamics will continue.

There are already announcements about an increase in the flight programs of Chinese carriers, he noted.

Russia is preparing reciprocal preferences in response to China's visa-free regime, Nikita Kondratiev, director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, said at the Recreation International Tourism Forum and exhibition.

— By 2030, Russia faces the task of increasing the flow of foreign tourists to the country to 16 million per year. The number of Chinese travelers among them, according to forecasts of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, should reach 5.7 million people by this time," he said.

He also stressed that our regions have a lot of work to do in terms of analyzing the infrastructure they have in order to understand whether it corresponds to the increasing flow from China.