Russians set new travel record to China in late 2025

Russians made a record number of trips to China in late 2025, underscoring a sharp revival in cross-border travel between the two countries, according to official statistics cited by Russian media.

In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, Russians took 745,800 trips to China, nearly 40% more than a year earlier and the highest quarterly figure on record. Growth was driven primarily by tourism and private travel, while business trips showed a slight decline.

The number of tourist visits increased by almost one-third, reaching 395,600 trips, while private trips surged 1.8 times to 231,100. In contrast, business travel fell by 4% year-on-year to 28,700 trips, reflecting shifting travel patterns.

Over the course of the year, the total number of trips by Russians to China rose sharply from 1.9 million to 2.47 million. This marked the second-highest annual total in modern history, just short of the all-time record of 2.6 million trips in 2019, before the pandemic.

A key factor behind the surge has been the visa-free regime introduced by Chinese authorities on September 15, 2025. Under the arrangement, Russian citizens can enter China using only a foreign passport and stay for up to 30 days. The policy is scheduled to remain in force until September 14, 2026, with a reciprocal visa-free arrangement also introduced for Chinese tourists.

China continues to rank as the largest source of inbound tourism to Russia, although travel activity from China declined last year as higher travel costs dampened demand.

By Tamilla Hasanova