China-Central Asia tourism heats up as visitor numbers soar

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.Coming up on today’s programAs China-Central Asia tourism heats up, travel agencies are launching more products amid growing visitor numbers; Nvidia will debut at this year’s CISCE, with US firms’ participation up 15%.Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours On Monday, China Southern Airlines flight CZ6051, with 173 passengers on board, departed from Beijing for Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, the debut of the first direct air route connecting the two capitals, which will be serviced twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, CCTV reported.Increased connectivity along with visa-free policies is contributing to the growing tourism exchanges between China and Central Asia, according to data from Chinese travel agencies, part of a broader trend of burgeoning ties.This year marks the China tourism year in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan's year of tourism in China. More and more Chinese tourists enjoy the convenience provided by visa-free travel agreements between China and Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, according to Xinhua.Trip.com data showed that since the start of this year, inbound bookings from Central Asian tourists have risen by 106 percent year-on-year, with the number of bookings from Uzbekistan seeing a 164-percent increase. Cities such as Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Beijing are among the top destinations for these travelers. Outbound travel from China to Central Asia has also increased 74 percent, with a 60-percent rise in bookings to Uzbekistan, per the Trip.com data.Travel platform Utour reported that the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Central Asia so far this year has doubled year-on-year. On the Fliggy platform, bookings for flights to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have increased by 60 percent and 47 percent, respectively. In response to these trends, tourism firms are making arrangements to launch more products this summer. Shanghai-based Spring Travel is set to launch two Central Asia-themed tourism products, the In-depth Kazakhstan Tour and the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan dual-country tour. Leveraging a new visa-free policy enacted on June 1, Uzbekistan intends to attract 1 million Chinese tourists in the medium term, according to Laziz Kudratov, Uzbekistan's minister of investment, industry and trade."We are establishing ourselves as a primary destination for tourists from around the world, and Chinese tourism is a useful index of this industry's recent growth. In 2024, we recorded an increase of 75 percent in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Uzbekistan," Kudratov said.China is one of the most important sources of tourists for Kazakhstan too. Data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan showed that in 2024, visits by Chinese tourists reached 655,000, up 78 percent year-on-year. GBA expressHong Kong is a strong contender for the number one position in the global initial public offering market in 2025. Edward Au, southern region managing partner of Deloitte China said the firm maintains its full-year forecast of around 80 new listings in the city, raising funds between HKD130 billion and 150 billion. Louis Lau, partner and head of Hong Kong capital markets group at KPMG China, said the Hong Kong stock market hosted 27 IPOs in total in the first five months of this year, raising approximately HKD77.7 billion. This figure represents an increase of more than eight times that of the same period last year.Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced on Monday that CATL has been added to the Southbound Stock Connect eligible securities list, with the adjustment taking effect immediately. CATL was added to Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect on June 14.  The exchange also adjusted the constituents for major indices including the Shenzhen Component Index and ChiNext Index, adding more companies from emerging and high-tech industries.Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co has raised HKD10.1 billion after robust demand for its shares to be listed in Hong Kong that allowed the Chinese mainland’s biggest soy sauce maker to increase the deal size. The company sold 279 million shares at HKD36.30 each, the top end of the marketed price range. The fund-raising ends on Monday, oversubscribing by nearly 700 times.Geely-backed ride-hailing firm Caocao announced today it will go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 25. Caocao plans to issue 44.17 million shares at an offering price of HKD41.94 apiece, aiming to raise about HKD1.9 billion.Reitar Logtech, an Hong Kong logistics technology firm, said on Monday it plans to apply for a stablecoin issuer license once the city’s new regulations take effect on August 1. Reitar aims to launch its own Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin, RHKD, which will mainly be used for payments and settlements in cross-border e-commerce, logistics, and supply chains.Hong Kong welcomed about 4.08 million visitor arrivals in May, a 20 percent year-on-year increase, primarily driven by the Chinese mainland’s May Day break, and major local events such as concerts and exhibitions. The Hong Kong Tourism Board said on Monday that tourist arrivals over the first five months of 2025 amounted to over 20 million, up 12 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, a total of 100 million inbound and outbound passenger trips were recorded in 2025 via checkpoints in Zhuhai connecting to Macao and Hong Kong by Sunday, 22 days earlier than last year.The People's Bank of China will issue this year's fourth batch of central bank bills worth CNY30 billion with a maturity of six months in Hong Kong, with the SAR becoming the world's largest offshore yuan center.Industry and company newsThe 3rd China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) is scheduled to be held in Beijing from July 16-20, with participation already beating expectations. The number of US exhibitors has increased by 15 percent compared with last year, while chip giant Nvidia will debut at the expo this year, said Yu Jianlong, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, on Tuesday. Over 650 Chinese and foreign enterprises and institutions from 75 countries and regions will participate in the expo. Fortune Global 500 companies and leading enterprisesaccount for over 65 percent of all the participants. China's COMAC penned MoUs with French aircraft engine maker Safran and US industrial products maker Crane on C929, the Airbus A330neo and Boeing 787 Dreamliner's competitor, at the Paris Air Show yesterday, where the Chinese planemaker showcased the basic models of C909, C919 and C929.Tencent has launched a global algorithm competition aimed at attracting new professional talent, offering a prize pool of CNY3.6 million. The contest challenges teams of contestants to develop AI model recommendations using image, text and behavioral tools. The top team will win CNY2 million, and members of the top 10 teams will be eligible for full-time jobs.China will roll out its departure tax refund policy in Dalian, northeastern Liaoning province, and central Hubei province from July 1, the finance ministry said yesterday. Overseas tourists can claim back value-added tax on eligible purchases made at designated tax refund stores before leaving the country.China's cross-border e-commerce exports exceeded CNY2 trillion for the first time last year, up 16.9 percent from the previous year, China’s customs said yesterday. The US was China's largest export market, accounting for 36 percent.Goldman Sachs issued a list of China's top private companies, dubbed the "Prominent 10," which it called a counterpart to the "Magnificent Seven" in the US. They are Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi, BYD, Meituan, NetEase, Midea, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Ctrip, and Anta, which collectively represent USD1.6 trillion in market cap and make up 42 percent of the MSCI China Index. Goldman projects the "Prominent 10" will show 13 percent compound annual earnings growth in the next two years.Asia-Pacific highlightsThe opening ceremony of Kazakhstan's "China Tourism Year" was held on Monday at the National Museum of Kazakhstan, with around 300 guests from China and Kazakhstan attending. As a major highlight of the event, the exhibition titled "Silk and the Silk Road: From China to Kazakhstan" also opened on the same day at the National Museum.Meitu, a Chinese photo and video editing app, has topped the App Store download chart in Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei within a week and the Photo & Video category on the App Store in 11 Southeast Asian and European countries.The Labubu fever is now sweeping Australia, with customers forming long lines at stores for the toys in major cities, per media reports. The quirky monster dolls from Chin'a Pop Mart are drawing huge crowds, including many adult shoppers, to stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.