Who’s Coming · Nanjing
Nanjing received 181 million visitors in the first ten months of 2025 — up 11.3% — and its inbound overnight arrivals grew three times faster than its total.
During the eight-day National Day holiday Nanjing hosted 20.1 million visits; seven in ten came from out of town, led by Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Shanghai and Henan, with the fastest growth from Sichuan, Qinghai and Shaanxi. The top draws were the Confucius Temple–Qinhuai riverfront, the Zhongshan scenic area, Xuanwu Lake, the Hongshan Forest Zoo and Niushou Mountain.
The scale is structural, not seasonal: Zhongshan alone expected about 38 million visitors in 2025, registered museums were on pace for 45 million admissions, and even rural tourism around the city logged 36.37 million visits January–November. Officials describe it as “淡季不淡” — a peak season that forgot to end.
Foreign visitors are returning faster than the average: 610,000 inbound overnight stays January–November 2025, up 18.4%, riding China’s visa-free expansion (30.08 million visa-free entries nationwide in 2025, up 49.5%) and the 240-hour transit scheme running at 65 ports.
The signal shows up in odd places: an Italian influencer’s shopping video at Hongshan Zoo went viral back home, and Zhongshan counted over 165,000 foreign visitors for the year. Nanjing’s inbound recovery is still young — which is precisely when a city is easiest to enjoy.
The crowd is real, so plan like a local: book Zhongshan and the top museums in advance, see the Confucius Temple riverfront on weekday evenings, and treat October’s Golden Week as a spectator sport unless crowds are what you came for.
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