The amount of money spent by American tourists in China is dwarfed by the amount of money spent by Chinese tourists abroad. So from a purely financial point-of-view there is no incentive for China to open up to tourism.
Of course the border politics is much more complicated than just tourism and it probably doesn't even figure in the calculus of when to reopen.

Why would I use my AMEX there assuming they even accept it? Just use my Citi Prestige...

I was surprised to find out when I was in Beijing in 2019 that Quanjude accept AMEX.

I don’t know how many consecutive times I will need to repeat this to you, but for the sake of others not being misinformed:

There is no 5% markup when charging your foreign credit card at lawsons via AliPay tourist pass.

My last purchase at Lawsons was Saturday for 11RMB. My chase sapphire reserve has a charge for $1.73 corresponding to this purchase. $1.73 equals 11RMB times the exchange rate of that day.

Many apologies. The "tourist pass" is new territory for me, so I have zero clue about the math.

I really hope that's a long-term solution. I always get that look when I tell people I don't have WeChat Pay. It's not a global standard.

As mentioned, the Alipay tourist pass is new territory for me, but you definitely want to have WeChat Pay at your disposal as well. I went to an actual SF Express store (stupid idea) two weeks ago, and they only accepted WX (i.e. not even cash).

Gpay is kind of cool as well because you can exchange money with Chinese people using market rates.

As in Google Pay? How?

-I receive most of my income in CNY
-Converting it to USD entails a transaction fee + paperwork if I use official channels...and, I end up with actual greenbacks
-If I were to send you Y6,362.80 using Ali/WX, you could send me $1,000 via Gpay

-Gpay is also kind of useful in HK

Trust me I was equally surprised when I realized this worked. I use it everywhere now.

I also don’t agree with you that a business traveler or tourist needs WeChat pay. In fact I doubt they can even get a bank account as a tourist, but even if so that seems like way too much work.

To be fair, I'm talking about ONE incident among 10,000+ data points. I couldn't use WX because my ICBC account (attached to WX) was drained. I ended up doing a personal Ali transfer to the shopkeeper, so he could pay the tab himself.

This is correct. China doesn’t care about foreign tourists and they are making more money due to locking their citizens inside than they would ever make from foreigners coming in as tourists. China ain’t opening for foreign tourists for at least another 2 years. They don’t need them and frankly probably don’t really want them either.

Alipay is better than wechat pay.

The only value you and me provide at 1515 or Flair is our white faces.:D

Sometimes I find your posts a bit confusing to understand. Are you saying that you look for someone to exchange CNY for USD? Then you use Google Pay for a P2P payment? If so, I had no idea GPay can do that. Does it drain from your bank accounts?

No idea how GPay is kind of useful in HK. Without details, I have no idea what you're really saying. I suppose if the terminals can handle it, then that's good too. I just tap my physical card for convenience.

I think it's widely known that Chinese tourists spend tons of money abroad. I don't think I was disputing that. Are you guys not being presumptuous by suggesting that the Chinese tourists will just spend their money traveling in China instead? Even if true, is this sustainable long-term? Seems a bit dismissive to suggest that American tourism dollars aren't even wanted.

I guess I'll hold you to your words. I don't believe it'll take 2 more years, but I guess we'll see.

I'm using one post to reply to two of your posts:

-I get paid in CNY, but need USD for certain things
-you can use Gpay in HK, even at 711
-if I am occupying a table at 1515, I'm utilizing space that a whale could be availing of
-many American tourists and biz travelers can afford $2,000 dinners, but $40 at DTF is far more common