A wooden boat carrying visitors passes an arch bridge in Wuzhen town, Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: jxfabu]

Jiaxing in Zhejiang province received 536,000 inbound overnight visits in the first three quarters, up 29.37 percent year-on-year. Inbound tourism spending rose 35.6 percent, outpacing visitor growth by nearly 7 percentage points.

Southeast Asia has become the largest source region, with five countries accounting for about 31.5 percent of arrivals from the top 20 source markets. Vietnam grew 32.1 percent, while Singapore surged 56.9 percent. Long-haul markets also climbed: Spain up 85.1 percent, Italy 63 percent, Russia 55.5 percent, and Canada 50.8 percent.

To attract more travelers, Jiaxing embedded itself in the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Suzhou corridor, listing 10 customized routes on overseas platforms for 50 source countries, with 22 countries hosting the routes.

The four major ancient towns — Wuzhen, Xitang, Puyuan, and Yanguan — each have a distinct identity. Together they received 388,000 inbound visits, up 53.9 percent.

In addition, the city simplified procedures, from baggage delivery and shuttle links to multilingual support and expanded departure tax refunds. It also expanded its departure tax refund store network to 53 outlets, 35 of which offer immediate refunds.