Tourists pose for photos at the Yuyuan Garden area in east China's Shanghai, Feb. 1, 2025. (Photo by Chen Haoming/Xinhua)

　　BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Dan Niu, once confined to a cubicle crunching numbers at a Shanghai bank, now spends weekdays cycling through the city's alleyways, leading foreign tourists past steamed bun stalls and hidden galleries tucked off the beaten path.

　　“On our rides, we can stop anytime to chat with locals at breakfast spots or dance with retirees in public squares,“ said Dan, whose cycling tours offer international travelers a half-day glimpse into everyday Shanghai, far from the usual tourist trail.

　　Dan's career shift reflects the boom in “China travel,“ partly fueled by the continuous optimization of visa-free policies. To date, China has introduced unilateral visa-free policies for 38 countries, and implemented 240-hour transit visa-free arrangements for 54 countries.

　　The impact has been striking. More than 20 million visa-free inbound trips were recorded in 2024, a 112.3 percent increase year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration.

　　This inbound tourism boom has opened up opportunities for people with foreign language skills like Dan.

　　GZL International Travel Service in Guangdong Province, south China, has expanded its multilingual guide team to around 30 people, including 14 new team members hired since late 2023, with English-speaking guides remaining the most sought-after.