Visitors take a group photo at the Yiwu International Trade Market. [Photo/Tide News]

From a "world supermarket" to an international destination, Yiwu, a county-level city in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, has seen a surge in inbound tourism this summer.

According to the Yiwu culture, radio, television, tourism, and sports bureau, the city received 353,000 overseas visits between January and July, marking a year-on-year increase of 19.4 percent. Notably, foreign tourists now account for more than 40 percent of visitors, a shift from previous years dominated by business buyers.

To accommodate travelers, streamlined services such as accelerated border clearance have reduced the average processing time per passenger by 20 minutes.

To improve the shopping experience, Yiwu has set up 37 departure tax refund outlets, 26 of which offer the "refund-upon-purchase" service. Additionally, payment service centers have been established in the Yiwu International Trade Market and Yiwu Airport.

The Yiwu International Trade Market is also embracing the increase in overseas visitors, with stores offering bilingual pricing tags and multiple payment options. "Our products were only for wholesale before, but now we accept retail sales," said Sun Lijuan, a merchant at the market.

The market has also extended its operating hours to 9 pm for the imported commodity area in District Five and added currency exchange points and multilingual service counters.

After shopping in Yiwu, many tourists explore local cultures in other regions in Jinhua, including Hengdian World Studios. It has hosted over 300 overseas tourist groups coming from Yiwu this summer, according to Yu Hong, a staff member of the Hengdian World Studios International Travel Agency.

The tourism boom has also spread to other cities in Zhejiang, including Ningbo, Wenzhou, and Lishui. Zhejiang saw inbound registration surge 25.41 percent from January to July, reaching 2.25 million, according to the exit and entry administration department.