The Beijing General Station of Exit-Entry Frontier Inspection reported on 8 December that cumulative exit-entry passenger trips at the capital’s ports topped 20 million for 2025, already surpassing full-year 2024 levels . Foreign nationals accounted for 30 percent of the total, with 1.86 million entries—60 percent of the foreign total—made under visa-exemption programmes, nearly double last year’s figure.
Officials credited the surge to China’s expanding unilateral and mutual visa-waiver agreements and the addition of more ports to the 240-hour visa-free-transit network. The rollout of the online Arrival Card on 20 November has further eased congestion: e-filing and new way-finding signage have cut average clearance times by eight minutes, according to border sources.
![Visa-free entries drive 34 % jump in foreign border crossings through Beijing]()
For multinational corporations, the data confirm that Beijing’s gateways are regaining pre-pandemic momentum. Travel managers may need to adjust peak-season staffing at client sites and factor in tighter hotel inventory near Beijing Daxing and Beijing Capital airports.
The numbers also strengthen the business case for airlines eyeing additional frequencies into Beijing. Carriers from Europe and the Middle East are lobbying regulators for more night-time slots in summer 2026 to tap the growing traffic.
Observers caution that sustained growth will depend on continued stability in China’s visa regime and on seamless digital infrastructure for arrivals; glitches in the new arrival-card system during Golden Week led to social-media complaints and are being addressed, officials said.
Officials credited the surge to China’s expanding unilateral and mutual visa-waiver agreements and the addition of more ports to the 240-hour visa-free-transit network. The rollout of the online Arrival Card on 20 November has further eased congestion: e-filing and new way-finding signage have cut average clearance times by eight minutes, according to border sources.
For multinational corporations, the data confirm that Beijing’s gateways are regaining pre-pandemic momentum. Travel managers may need to adjust peak-season staffing at client sites and factor in tighter hotel inventory near Beijing Daxing and Beijing Capital airports.
The numbers also strengthen the business case for airlines eyeing additional frequencies into Beijing. Carriers from Europe and the Middle East are lobbying regulators for more night-time slots in summer 2026 to tap the growing traffic.
Observers caution that sustained growth will depend on continued stability in China’s visa regime and on seamless digital infrastructure for arrivals; glitches in the new arrival-card system during Golden Week led to social-media complaints and are being addressed, officials said.
