Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, received a total of 495,000 inbound travelers with overnight stay in the first seven months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of nearly 98 percent, the city's information office said recently.

Such data highlighted Suzhou's strong attraction in inbound tourism, and indicated the accelerated recovery of the city's tourism market, according to the office, adding that the leap also benefited from the country's 144-hour transit visa-free policy for dozens of foreign nations.

The city's official data showed that inbound overnight tourists in Suzhou were mainly from Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Types of inbound tourists were also diverse. The inbound tourists checked in at key hotels in the city's industrial park were mainly business travelers, performing arts teams, and exchange groups to international schools, while those staying at the city's iconic gardens and scenic spots were generally inbound tourism groups.

An advertising poster showing the picturesque water town of Suzhou has been attracting passers-by in downtown commercial areas of London, the United Kingdom, and Auckland, New Zealand, since late September, inviting visitors from overseas to come and appreciate the beauty of Suzhou's ancient towns and streets, enjoy the convenience brought by science and technology to life, and indulge in pleasure brought by delicious food to both body and mind.

In May, the Suzhou government unveiled 10 measures to further promote inbound tourism in the city. The measures included increasing the use of POS machines that accept foreign bank cards and sites of currency exchange, as well as setting up an international tourism service counter at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

A new QR code was also introduced among the measures. Tourists from overseas can scan it and get a series of guidance for applying for mobile phone cards, registering mobile payments and making reservations at hotels and scenic spots, among others.

Zina Blahusova, an actress from Czechia and has nearly 6 million followers on social media. In a vlog where she recorded her one day and night in Suzhou, she wore silk qipao and was seated in a small wooden boat drifting along the waterway, while listening to local folk music.

She also visited shops selling silk products and tasted Suzhou-style noodles in soup. "I feel very much at ease during the stay here in the cozy early autumn season," she said in the vlog.