Spanish tourists browse mobile phone products at a Huawei store on Nanjing Road in east China's Shanghai, July 17, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Haoming)

Policy Accelerators

Government policies have further bolstered this trend. Reflecting the broader trend noted by Goyon, many foreign shoppers are now actively seeking out Chinese high-tech products, valuing not only their quality but also their cost-performance ratio.

In April, the State Taxation Administration launched a nationwide upgrade of the value-added tax refund mechanism for foreign tourists. This has resulted in a simplified and faster process -- which has encouraged more foreign tourists to make purchases in China.

"The service expands the refund process from airports to retail stores, allowing overseas tourists to receive their tax refunds immediately upon purchase," said Zhang Danying, an official at the municipal tax service of Hangzhou.

While the DJI store in APM Mall has not yet activated on-site refunds, it provides tax invoices and refund slips that tourists can redeem at designated locations. For a product like the 4,000-yuan (about 562.9 U.S. dollars) Pocket 3 bundle, the refund exceeds 400 yuan, according to Luo.

Hangzhou, a pioneer in this effort, has gone even further. It became the first city in China to offer tax refunds through Alipay, replacing cash-only models and allowing tourists to scan a QR code for direct refunds.

The city has further simplified the process by launching the country's first "one-click" quick tax refund service for overseas shoppers via Alipay, enabling refunds to be received in as little as two minutes.

Currently, Hangzhou has 267 stores offering tax refunds -- an increase of 149 from last year, including 124 "instant refund" stores, up from just 14 a year ago. So far in 2025, tax-refund sales in the city have reached 2.23 times the amount recorded during the same period of last year.