China’s culture and tourism market sees robust recovery and steady growth in 2025

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism released the 2025 Statistical Bulletin on Cultural and Tourism Development on 2 June, outlining strong recovery momentum and steady growth across China’s domestic cultural and tourism sectors throughout 2025. Supported by continuous market vitality and optimized industrial layout, the industry has maintained a sound development trend with expanding market scale and diversified consumption scenarios.

According to official bulletin data, domestic tourist trips in 2025 reached 6.522 billion, marking a year-on-year increase of 16.2 percent, while total tourism spending hit 6.30 trillion yuan, up 9.5 percent from the previous year. Breakdown by residency shows urban residents contributed 4.996 billion domestic tourist trips, a 14.3 percent year-on-year rise, with corresponding consumption standing at 5.30 trillion yuan, up 7.5 percent year on year. Rural residents recorded more remarkable growth in tourism participation and spending, completing 1.526 billion tourist trips, an increase of 22.6 percent year on year, and generating 1.00 trillion yuan in tourism expenditure, representing a 21.4 percent year-on-year uplift.

China’s cultural and tourism service infrastructure maintained stable operational scale by the end of 2025. The country hosted 70,354 travel agencies and 7,586 star-rated hotels nationwide. A total of 16,994 A-level scenic spots were in operation, directly employing 1.739 million workers across the sector. These scenic sites received 7.51 billion visitor entries throughout 2025, driving total tourism revenue of 554.49 billion yuan and underpinning the stable operation of the grassroots tourism service system.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, industrial-scale cultural enterprises nationwide achieved a total operating income of 15.2 trillion yuan in 2025, rising 7.4 percent year on year. The domestic cultural market boasted 223,000 operational institutions with 1.3 million employees, generating 2.02 trillion yuan in annual operating revenue. The performance of segmented cultural sectors varied steadily, with 45,000 performance market institutions securing 782.22 billion yuan in revenue, while 12,000 commercial internet cultural institutions recorded an operating income of 1.10338 trillion yuan, reflecting the vigorous development of digital cultural business formats.

Public cultural services continued to improve in coverage and quality in 2025, further enriching residents’ spiritual and cultural life. By the end of the year, China had 3,253 public libraries with a total collection of 1.55 billion volumes, equivalent to 1.11 volumes per capita. The annual visitor throughput of public libraries reached 1.47 billion person-times, growing 9.3 percent year on year. The country’s 44,000 mass cultural institutions organised 4.97 million cultural activities in 2025, a 12.9 percent year-on-year increase, serving 2.61 billion participants and registering a 19.0 percent year-on-year rise in service coverage.

The 2025 Statistical Bulletin on Cultural and Tourism Development confirms that China’s cultural and tourism industries have achieved sustained and high-quality progress. Cultural undertakings have grown increasingly prosperous, and the integration of cultural resources and tourism scenarios has deepened in both depth and breadth. Moving forward, the continuous improvement of cultural infrastructure, the enrichment of cultural and tourism products, and the upgrading of public cultural services will further unleash market potential and meet the diverse and upgraded consumption demands of the public.