Australia enters China’s top 10 inbound source markets as border crossings hit record 369 million in H1.
Australia has cemented its place among the top 10 source countries for foreign arrivals into China, new immigration data shows, as the country logged a record 369 million cross-border trips in the first half of 2026.
China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) revealed the figures at a press conference on July 10, confirming Australia joined South Korea, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Japan and Mongolia in the top 10, which together accounted for 62 percent of all foreign entries.
Record H1 for border crossings
Immigration authorities nationwide inspected 369 million inbound and outbound passenger trips in the first half of the year, up 10.8 percent year-on-year and an all-time high. That total broke down into 176 million trips by mainland Chinese residents (up 10.7 percent), 147 million by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents (up 8.1 percent), and 45.906 million by foreign nationals (up 20.6 percent).
Foreign nationals made 22.914 million inbound trips, a rise of 20.4 percent year-on-year. Of these, 17.815 million entered visa-free – accounting for 77.7 percent of all foreign arrivals and marking a 30.6 percent year-on-year increase, underscoring the impact of China’s expanding visa-free policies on inbound demand.
Transport movements and document issuance
Authorities also inspected 20.844 million inbound and outbound movements of aircraft, trains, vessels and motor vehicles in H1, up 17.1 percent year-on-year. This included 490,000 aircraft movements (+1 percent), 56,000 train movements (+5.7 percent), 229,000 vessel movements (+4.6 percent) and 20.068 million motor vehicle crossings (+17.8 percent).
Over the same period, China issued 10.392 million ordinary passports, 49.585 million travel permits and endorsements for mainland residents travelling to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and 1.104 million Mainland Travel Permits for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents. A further 991,000 visas and other immigration documents were issued to foreign nationals.
Digital services scale up
The NIA’s government service platform delivered 118 million online services, including information inquiries, to Chinese and foreign travellers, alongside 34.54 million free identity verification services for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents, overseas Chinese and foreign nationals. Its 12367 service hotline fielded 3.68 million inquiries from travellers across more than 100 countries and regions, with a 99 percent average satisfaction rate.
