China has introduced visa-free entry for British tourists for the first time in more than two decades, a move that has prompted a wave of new tour products from UK operators and a surge in flight bookings. British passport holders can enter China without a visa for stays of up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits and transit, effective from February 17, 2026 until December 31, 2026. The policy was finalised during Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s five-day visit to Beijing.
The expansion brings the total number of countries eligible for China’s unilateral visa-free entry policy to 59. The UK had previously required its citizens to apply for five- or ten-year multiple-entry visas for tourism, business or family visits — a process that could add two to four weeks and around £151 in fees to trip planning.
On the aviation side, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic reported that bookings for Shanghai and Beijing routes spiked 18% and 22% respectively within hours of the visa-free announcement. China Southern Airlines increased the frequency of its direct Guangzhou–London service from one daily flight to eight flights per week, operating the route with Boeing 787-9 aircraft. During the first three quarters of 2025, nearly 12,000 direct flights operated between the two countries, with round-trip passenger traffic rising 4% year on year across 23 direct routes. Total passenger volume reached 3.03mn, with load factors on major hub routes stabilising at around 86%.
Wendy Wu Tours has moved quickly to capitalise on the visa-free announcement. Wu called the visa announcement a “very historic moment” during a Travel Weekly webcast, saying: “We want to make it easy for everybody, so more people can travel to China as smooth [sic] as can be. That’s our job.”
Riviera Travel has also unveiled a new China line-up for 2026 and 2027. The programme includes the Classic China Tour, an 11-night itinerary covering the Great Wall, the Terracotta Army and the pandas of Chengdu, with groups averaging 22 guests, as well as a new 14-day Yangtze River Cruise combining three nights in Beijing with a 10-night sailing from Chongqing to Shanghai aboard the five-star Century Legend.
VisitBritain forecasts that Chinese visitor arrivals to the UK will reach 667,000 in 2026, a 28% increase on estimated 2025 levels, generating approximately £1.3bn in tourism revenue for the UK economy. The flow in the other direction remains harder to quantify, though the UK outbound market to China had recovered to 96% of 2019 levels by 2024, with passenger numbers between the two countries running 35% above 2019 for the full year of 2025.