Originally Posted by
gudugan
That's part of the reason. Other reasons I can think of
- China to say it lightly is not treated well in the global press, so people are generally not interested. Includes sentiment about government, HK, etc
- A lot of expats who lived in China left and told their friends not to go
- Students who left China for winter break in the beginning of 2020 largely got stuck outside for years so they told their friends not to go
- Visa requirement deters a lot of people. India gave visa on arrival to US citizens at the end of 2014. Brazil was eVisa/visa free for US citizens for the Olympics and from 2018 to end of September 2023.
- Quarantine requirement during COVID was viewed as overly harsh especially after other countries dropped theirs a long time ago
- Chinese people who live overseas were also not super enthusiastic about the quarantine and many of my friends visited China for the first time this year since 2019
I do NOT think that language barrier, Alipay/WeChat, real name verification, needing a phone number, firewall, foreigners can’t stay at hotel are a problem. All of these other reasons come before that
Visa hassles has to be at the top of the list. Adjusted for GDP, I think the Chinese visa is probably the worst in the world for "how annoying is it to get" for a major country. US visas are more hassle by absolute value, but the all countries in China's peer group (and most higher HDI countries) have better visa policies.
A e-visa system that lets people who just want a 30-day single entry tourist visa skip the consulate visit would do wonders, for example. But there won't be any improvement while the trade/tech war is in progress.