China's tourism market continues to heat up with more than 320,000 inbound flight tickets already booked for the 2026 New Year's Day holiday from Thursday to Saturday. In November, China announced that it would expand its 240-hour visa-free transit program to more ports, and extend its unilateral visa-exemption arrangements for more than 40 countries to Dec 31, 2026, in the country's latest move to further open up to the world. According to Umetrip, a Chinese travel-related mobile service provider, over 320,000 tickets for inbound flights during the three-day New Year's Day holiday have been sold as of December 25, representing an increase of approximately 11 percent compared with the same period last year. An increasing number of overseas tourists are opting for in-depth China tours. To date, bookings for domestic flights from Spain and Italy have grown significantly, eight times and four times the figures for the same period last year, respectively. Beijing Capital International Airport, which handles air routes to 225 destinations in 57 countries and regions, continues to upgrade its hub connectivity and has partnered with airlines to launch more service products for transit passengers. Shotlist: Beijing, China - Dec 26, 2025: 1. Various of passengers at airport terminal; 2. SOUNDBITE (English) German traveler (name not given): "It's (Alipay) the easiest one to pay, to buy something in China. It's great. Even for elderly people, it's so simple and I like this very much."; 3. German couple moving luggage; 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Thai traveler (name not given): "I think it's pretty good because Thailand and China are like very close together and it's very good because it attracts tourists and it's a very boost to the travel things in tourism, yes, in the two countries."; 5. Various of airplanes at airport; 6. Travelers walking through jet bridge; FILE: Beijing, China - Date Unknown 7. Various of airplanes flying; Beijing, China - Dec 26, 2025 8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Kong Xin, manager of aviation development business, Beijing Capital International Airport (starting with shot 7): "Next year, the capital airport will add more routes and destinations to Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Tashkent, Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, and Africa to further enrich our transit products via the capital and promote cross-border linkage of transit and inbound tourism."; FILE: Beijing, China - Date Unknown 9. Aerial shots of cityscape; 10. Traffic. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]