The year 2025 was not just about recovery for Shanghai; it was also about breaking records. By the end of this year, approximately 9.36 million foreign tourists had visited the city which is no small bounce back, but a clear assertion that Shanghai is once again firmly established as one of the primary gateways for international arrivals into China.
After nearly a million foreign tourists arrived this month, compared with the same month last year, this is more than a 45% increase over the previous year’s figures. It should be obvious that such a rapid, confident rebound from a total of 1 million visitors arriving in a single month is not a slow and steady rise, but rather an example of rapid growth and resurgence.
According to the Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism of Shanghai, the number of visitors arriving from overseas has increased nearly 40% when comparing 2025 too (previously) year prior. This pattern represents that the growth and expansion of these tourism numbers is not exclusively the result of a post-pandemic recovery but an indicator that there is renewed interest worldwide in Shanghai.
The majority of visitors did not simply pass through Shanghai; the largest number of Finnish tourists to visit China were overnight visitors. In December alone, over 1 million foreigners were staying in the city leading to another 8.7 million total new overnight international guests for the calendar year – an overall increase from 2022 of a little more than 45%.
Star-rated hotels were very steady in December, hovering around a 63% hotel occupancy rate for the month, as well as the entire year averaging 66% hotel occupancy, up slightly from the previous year. Not dramatic but steady and healthy.
Five-star hotels did even better. In December, five-star hotels experienced a hotel occupancy rate above 70% for the month and an annual average hotel occupancy rate of over 71%. That’s a strong demand for hotels.
Five-star hotels also experienced an annual ADR of approximately RMB1,045 in December, an increase of over 9% from the same month last year.
Both new visitors and growing visitors were willing to spend on guest rooms.
Now let’s identify where these visitors came from.
The growth of the number of visitors from South Korea has been the largest increase in the number of visitors from any country at over 900,000 visitation with over one hundred percent growth over last year. The number of visitors from Russia also increased at a large growth rate for the year, especially at the end of the year.
Thailand provided more than 500,000 visitors to hotels or more than ten percent growth for that total visitation. Indonesia and Italy also contributed significant contributions to hotel visitation with visitation above fifty percent year-over-year.
In addition to the previously mentioned countries, and not just the quickly emerging markets, there have also been stable and continued increases in visitation numbers from other countries.
Although traditional visitor markets, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia, had a sustained overall growth rate above 30%, it is the combination of these regional markets with long-haul markets that demonstrates Shanghai is appealing to visitors across all different visitor groups (e.g., affluent, backpackers, etc). Therefore, Shanghai has a broad-based draw.
In addition to the traditional characteristics of Shanghai, such as its skyline, shopping streets, food offerings and blend of East-West cultural influences, the statistics referenced above illustrate that visitors are not only curious again but are also demonstrating their confidence in travelling again.
Shanghai achieved strong performance at the end of 2025, with record international arrivals, higher hotel occupancy levels, increased average room rates, a wider array of source markets and strong luxury performance.
As such, Shanghai is not simply experiencing a rebound, it is demonstrating some significant momentum in its position as an urban tourism power within Asia, with no sign of that momentum slowing.
