Since the start of 2026, Mutianyu Great Wall has received a cumulative 1.06 million international visitor arrivals, breaking the one-million mark for annual international visitors for the first time — a year-on-year increase of 77%. It has become one of the top destinations for international visitors touring the Great Wall in China, further elevating the influence of its brand as the Great Wall's "international reception hall."

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Wall is an iconic Chinese cultural IP and an essential cultural tourism landmark for international visitors to China. Located in Beijing, Mutianyu Great Wall leverages the capital's role as the "four centers" to serve as a window for Beijing's foreign exchanges and the international reception hall of the Great Wall. It hosts a wide range of international exchange events year-round and has welcomed hundreds of foreign heads of state and dignitaries.

Thanks to its excellent reputation and quality experience, the scenic area has consistently been named to Tripadvisor's Travellers' Choice list of the world's most popular landmarks, bringing its international influence to new heights. Over the years, Mutianyu Great Wall has benchmarked itself against world-class scenic areas, establishing a development philosophy of a "cultural Great Wall, industrial Great Wall, technological Great Wall and ecological Great Wall," while always balancing conservation with the vibrant reuse of the heritage site. At the same time, it precisely matches the needs of international visitors and continuously improves the visitor experience through convenient, welcoming services.

Leveraging inbound tourism facilitation policies — including unilateral visa exemptions, mutual visa-exemption agreements, the 240-hour transit visa-free policy and instant departure tax refunds — along with Beijing's coordinated development of the Great Wall Cultural Belt, Huairou District has been vigorously advancing the construction of an east-west connected Great Wall cultural tourism belt and deepening the integration of culture and tourism around the Great Wall. The scenic area has seized this momentum to upgrade its international services. On admission, it offers online and offline multi-channel booking, direct passport verification at the gate, bilingual signage across the site, multilingual self-service devices and AI-guided tours. On payment, it has launched the first Visa-friendly international payment zone at a World Heritage site in China, supporting foreign cards, overseas e-wallets and camera-scan payments.

In terms of products, the scenic area has moved beyond the single experience of wall-climbing to develop seasonal signature events — sunrise viewing on New Year's Day, the Mountain Flower Festival, the Great Wall Night Tour, the Red Leaf Season and the Ice & Snow Season — complemented by new experiences such as special performances, XR immersive viewing and technology-assisted wall climbing.

In terms of services, the area brings together multi-cuisine dining, themed accommodation and a diverse range of cultural and creative products. It has optimized departure tax-refund services and upgraded facilities such as restrooms, tailoring every aspect to the travel habits of international visitors.

To mark the one-million-visitor milestone, on October 18 the Mutianyu Great Wall World Cultural Tourism Landmark — Huanzhi Qianqiu (meaning "standing tall through the ages") — was officially unveiled, accompanied by a Great Wall tai chi performance showcasing traditional Eastern culture to visitors at home and abroad. The scenic area also prepared multiple special gifts: every visitor could collect a commemorative badge and locally grown Huairou chestnuts, while a limited-edition collector's badge was launched alongside an exclusive prize for lucky visitors, giving overseas guests a unique Great Wall memory to take home as they climbed the wall, admired the autumn foliage and savored the chestnuts.

One million international visitors is a milestone, but also a new starting point. Going forward, Mutianyu Great Wall will continue to seize the opportunities of inbound tourism policies, steadily strengthening its international support capabilities — multilingual services, foreign payment options and overseas communication — and enriching immersive cultural tourism offerings such as the Red Leaf Season, the Harvest Festival and traditional cultural performances, so as to keep telling the story of the Great Wall to the world. At the same time, it will continue to drive the high-quality development of villages around Bohai Town in Huairou District, achieving coordinated progress in the conservation of Great Wall culture, international cultural tourism exchange and rural prosperity.