According to Zhangjiajie News, the Zhangjiajie Municipal Tax Service under the State Taxation Administration has recently innovatively rolled out the Guide to Tax-Free Shopping for Departing Overseas Visitors covering 17 languages including Korean, German and French. This initiative aims to further optimize the inbound tourism consumption environment and enhance the shopping experience for overseas tourists.
The guide elaborates on the departure tax refund policy, the scope of refundable goods, application criteria and processing procedures, with intuitive flow charts attached. It highlights the convenient advantage of instant tax refund upon purchase and a maximum tax refund rate of 11%. The selection of languages is closely aligned with the actual profile of Zhangjiajie's source tourist markets, and the guide will be precisely distributed at key locations frequented by overseas visitors such as Hehua International Airport, foreign-related business districts and service centers of core scenic areas.
This measure is part of Zhangjiajie's ongoing efforts to foster a world-class market-oriented, law-based and international business environment, and to continuously improve its foreign-related service system. In recent years, the local municipal Party committee and government have coordinated the advancement of relevant work, guiding the tax department and other multiple authorities to collaborate, and integrating refined services deeply into the internationalization process of culture and tourism.
Previously, the 12366 tax payment service hotline of Zhangjiajie has also added an English special line and introduced intelligent translation support, gradually building a multi-level and multi-lingual consultation and guidance network to safeguard foreign nationals traveling, working and residing in Zhangjiajie.
Data shows that in 2025, Zhangjiajie received a total of 1.3303 million inbound tourists from 192 countries and regions, a year-on-year increase of 32.79%; the total consumption of inbound tourists reached 746 million US dollars, a comparable year-on-year growth of 20.83%. Among them, the number of European and American tourists saw a remarkable surge – incomplete statistics indicate that nearly 300,000 European and American tourists visited the city, a year-on-year rise of 260%.
