China's inbound visitors spent $131.1 billion in 2025, up 39.2% — and the margin is shifting west. Chengdu captures it with prices a third below the coast: the same money that buys a standard room in Shanghai buys a suite night and a banquet here.
Inbound spending nationally hit $131.1 billion in 2025 (+39.2%) on 154.5 million visits, with a 2030 target of $150 billion+. Travel-services exports — the ledger where visitor money lands — grew 27.7% year on year in January–July 2026 alone, to ¥263.6 billion.
The payment rails show where it happens: inbound Alipay transaction value up 72.9% and WeChat Pay up 55% since July 2026, and average inbound stays lengthening to 5.1 days (+11%) — more nights, bigger baskets. Chengdu, as the fourth inbound city and the western hub, is a structural beneficiary.
Chengdu is the value capital among China's top-tier cities: five-star rooms routinely ¥600–1,000 where Shanghai asks ¥1,500+, temple-to-table dining from ¥60 a head, metro rides from ¥2. Even the top of the market — the Temple House, Niccolo — prices below equivalent coastal product.
The spending mix skews to experience: hotpot and banquet dining, tea, Sichuan opera tickets, panda-base entry (~¥55), day trips to Leshan and Jiuzhaigou. Retail is the growing slice: Taikoo Li Chengdu is one of China's strongest open-air luxury malls, and the instant tax-refund scheme (¥200 minimum, on-the-spot processing) is pushing visitor baskets up.
Underneath the inbound story sits the world's largest domestic market: 6.52 billion trips and ¥6.3 trillion of spending across China in 2025 (+16.2% trips). Chengdu is a top-three domestic destination — Sichuan drew record holiday flows through 2025–2026 — which is why hotel and metro investment here runs ahead of inbound numbers.
For the visitor economy this means resilience: Chengdu's tourism infrastructure was built for domestic volume, and every inbound percentage point is nearly pure margin on top of a paid-for base.
Where to spend: the banquet. Chengdu's high-end Sichuan restaurants — the yàn-style tasting menus — deliver China's best food-per-yuan ratio at the top end; budget ¥300–500 a head for what would cost triple in Shanghai. Where to save: hotels — book the best room in the best hotel; the price gap over a standard room is small and the upgrade is real. And claim the tax refund on any Taikoo Li purchase over ¥200 — instant, at the counter, and most foreign visitors still don't know it exists.
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