China's 2026 H1 Service Trade Up 8.3% to RMB 3.78 Trillion

In the first half of 2026, China's service trade maintained growth momentum. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, total service imports and exports from January to June reached RMB 3,779.75 billion, up 8.3% year on year. Exports amounted to RMB 1,504.7 billion, up 17.6%, while imports totaled RMB 2,275.05 billion, up 2.9%. The service trade deficit narrowed to RMB 770.35 billion, a reduction of RMB 161.42 billion compared with the same period in 2025.

Travel service exports grew notably. In the first half of the year, travel service exports reached RMB 229.2 billion, up 31.1%, the fastest growth among the top five service export sectors. Transport service imports also expanded rapidly. On the policy front, China has continuously expanded its visa-free entry policy, now offering visa-free entry to nearly 80 countries, of which 50 are unilateral visa-free arrangements. In 2025, visa-free inbound foreign visitors reached 30.08 million, up 49.5% year on year.

In March 2026, the Ministry of Commerce issued the Policy Measures on Promoting Travel Service Exports and Expanding Inbound Consumption, proposing 16 concrete measures across seven areas, including expanding inbound tourism consumption, facilitating inbound business activities, and activating inbound event consumption. Starting July 1, the Notice on Strengthening Departure Tax Refund Measures to Expand Inbound Consumption, jointly issued by six departments including the Ministry of Commerce, took effect. The notice stipulates that customs will apply a small-sample inspection system for refund applications with sales amounts below RMB 10,000, exempting travelers not selected from physical verification. It also fully promotes paperless tax refunds, with the system automatically retrieving document information, significantly shortening processing time for departure tax refunds.

On July 23, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on first-half 2026 commercial work and performance. Yang Mu, Director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the departure tax refund 2.0 policy has stimulated inbound consumption vitality, with over 15,000 departure tax refund stores nationwide. In the first half of the year, the number of overseas travelers completing tax refunds rose approximately fourfold year on year.

The 15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Strong Tourism Country proposes that by 2030, China's international tourism influence will be significantly enhanced, the scale and benefits of inbound tourism will continue to expand, with inbound tourist arrivals reaching 190 million and total spending exceeding USD 150 billion. The 15th Five-Year Plan for Expanding Consumption mentions optimizing the inbound consumption environment, building the "Shop in China" brand, steadily expanding the scope of visa-free countries, continuously optimizing transit visa-free policies, further increasing international routes, particularly direct flights to Europe, the United States, and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, and optimizing departure tax refund facilitation measures, increasing departure tax refund stores, promoting the "buy and refund immediately" service, and encouraging more domestic products to enter departure duty-free stores at ports and city duty-free stores.