AI-powered tourism in China has moved from concept to daily reality—fast. In 2025, roughly 150 million international arrivals navigated Chinese cities using smart apps, AI itinerary planners, and multilingual digital guides (The Traveler, 2026). That shift is accelerating into 2026, and the tools available to foreign travelers now look nothing like what existed just two years ago.
What Changed—and Why It Matters
For years, independent travel in China meant payment friction, language gaps, and a digital ecosystem built almost entirely for domestic users. That era is ending. A wave of government-backed platforms and commercial apps now targets foreign visitors directly—in their own languages, linked to their own bank cards.
The numbers back this up. Mobile payment transactions by foreign visitors reached 80 billion yuan in 2025, a tenfold increase compared to the previous year (Travel and Tour World, 2026). That growth reflects one clear shift: the barriers have come down.
Beijing Launches GO BEIJING for International Visitors
Beijing offers one of the most visible examples of China’s AI-powered tourism infrastructure push. The city launched “GO BEIJING,” a digital platform accessible via the international version of Alipay. It covers transport, attraction bookings, and local recommendations in 16 languages.
Results are already showing. Beijing recorded over 7 million border crossings in 2026 as of late April—a 13% year-on-year increase (China Daily, 2026). Officials point to two main drivers: expanded visa-free access, and smoother digital infrastructure. Currently, China offers unilateral visa-free entry to citizens of 50 countries, plus a 240-hour transit visa-free arrangement for visitors from 55 countries.
Zhejiang Builds a Four-Agent AI Travel Platform
In June 2025, Zhejiang Province launched “Zhejiang Travel,” an AI-driven inbound platform built on Alibaba’s Qwen and DeepSeek large language models. The platform runs four specialized agents: a scenic guide, hotel consultant, budget planner, and neighborhood assistant.
A Korean tourist tested it at launch: “I simply asked in Korean for a ‘3-day, 2-night Hangzhou trip’ and instantly received a detailed plan, even down to daily transportation cost” (Xinhua, 2025). That kind of response—accurate, multilingual, immediate—marks a real turning point for inbound AI-powered tourism in China.
Xi’an’s Tang Dynasty AI Guide
Not all AI-powered tourism tools are app-based. In Xi’an, visitors can scan a QR code at scenic spots and summon a “Tang Dynasty maiden”—an AI avatar in traditional hanfu attire, available in Chinese, English, and Russian. She provides real-time travel advice and cultural context throughout the visit.
The system runs on the “Visit Shaanxi” platform, developed by provincial tourism authorities. Similarly, at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—visitors use VR headsets to explore Cave 285 in 360 degrees, examining murals up close without physical access restrictions (People’s Daily, 2025). Scenic areas across China are accelerating this kind of AI-culture integration.
From Hours to Seconds: AI Itinerary Planning
One of the clearest wins for foreign travelers is AI itinerary generation. Doubao, a widely used Chinese AI app, produces a full three-day Beijing plan—transport, accommodation, attractions, food—in under ten seconds.
Mutangay Jesteben Beni, a student from the Democratic Republic of Congo at Shanxi University, described the experience: “It’s not just an itinerary; it’s like a local friend offering a personalized guide” (Go Shanxi, 2025). That framing captures something real. The best AI travel tools in China right now feel less like search engines and more like informed companions.
Payments, Navigation, and the Nihao China App
For day-to-day practicalities, UnionPay launched Nihao China—designed specifically for inbound tourists. It supports international bank card binding, taxi booking, museum entry, and VAT tax refund processing. The app tackles the most common friction points in one place.
Meanwhile, major platforms—Fliggy, Mafengwo, and LY.com—have all released AI travel products with multilingual support and real-time crowd data. Some tools actively reroute users away from congested attractions toward less-visited areas. That is especially useful during China’s major holidays.
What Travelers Should Know Before They Go
The practical takeaway is straightforward. Visitors to China in 2026 have access to tools that make independent travel genuinely more manageable:
- Itinerary planning: Doubao and Zhejiang Travel build personalized itineraries in minutes, in multiple languages.
- Navigation and payments: GO BEIJING and Nihao China handle transport, bookings, and card payments without a local bank account.
- On-site guidance: AI avatar guides are operational in Xi’an, Dunhuang, Shenyang, Inner Mongolia, and elsewhere.
- Visa options: The 240-hour transit visa-free policy opens multi-day stopovers for travelers from 55 countries.
China’s smart tourism market is projected to exceed RMB 14.5 trillion in value, according to data cited by China Trading Desk (2026). That scale explains the investment—and the pace of rollout. For anyone planning a trip to China, the infrastructure is more foreigner-friendly than it has ever been.
References
China Daily. (2026, April 30). Platform to better serve visitors. China Daily. http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202604/30/WS69f2aca9a310d6866eb4660c.html
China Trading Desk. (2026). AI and smart tourism in China 2026: Insights for travel brands, hotels and destinations. https://www.chinatradingdesk.com/post/ai-and-smart-tourism-in-china-2026-insights-for-travel-brands-hotels-and-destinations
Go Shanxi. (2025, November 5). AI transforming experience for foreign travelers in China. http://www.goshanxi.com.cn/2025-11/05/c_1140160.htm
People’s Daily Online. (2025, July 21). AI transforms China’s tourism industry with new travel experiences. https://en.people.cn/n3/2025/0721/c90000-20342968.html
The Traveler. (2026, March 29). How AI travel tech helped 150 million visitors feel at home in China. https://www.thetraveler.org/how-ai-travel-tech-helped-150-million-visitors-feel-at-home-in-china/
Travel and Tour World. (2026, March 29). How AI and smart apps made 150 million international travellers feel at home in 2025 in China. https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/how-ai-and-smart-apps-made-150-million-international-travellers-feel-at-home-in-2025-in-china-the-secret-tech-revolution-you-must-experience-now/
Xinhua / Belt and Road Portal. (2025, June 26). China’s Zhejiang debuts AI-powered tourism platform for foreign visitors. https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/p/0TD7NGQ9.html
