Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 September 2026

This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how to contact us about privacy questions.

1. Information We Collect

  • Account data (required): your email address, a password (stored only as a hash), and a display name.
  • Contact details (optional): phone or WhatsApp number, country of residence.
  • Travel context (optional): planned timing, destinations, and who is travelling - so our answers fit your trip.
  • Your questions and comments: what you post in Ask or on content pages.
  • Download records: which checklist or file you downloaded, so we can send the right version.
  • Anonymised usage events: which pages are visited, linked to a random cookie - never to your identity, and never sold or shared.

2. How We Use Information

We use your information to answer your questions, provide the services you request, keep the site secure and free of abuse, and send you necessary messages about your account or your requests. Creating an account does not sign you up for marketing - we don't send marketing email.

3. Cookies and Analytics

We use only two cookies: a login session cookie, so you stay signed in, and an anonymous statistics cookie that cannot identify you. For traffic statistics we use a cookieless analytics tool (Cloudflare Web Analytics) and our own anonymous page-view counter; neither sets advertising cookies, and neither is used to identify or profile you. We do not use advertising cookies or social-media trackers.

4. Sharing With Service Providers

We do not sell, rent, or share your details with marketers, brokers, or partners. Data is stored on servers located within the European Union. We share only what is strictly necessary with the service providers that help us run this website. If a payment provider is used at checkout, only the data needed to process that payment is passed to them, and the provider will be named on this page.

5. Payment Information

Payments are handled by PayPal. When you check out you are redirected to PayPal, and we never see or store your card details - we receive only your order and its payment status. Please do not send card details, online-banking passwords, or one-time codes to us through any channel.

6. Chat, Email and Support

If you contact us through WhatsApp, email, or the Ask section, your messages and contact details may be processed by the tools we use to manage support. Important trip requirements and decisions from our conversations may be summarised in your customer record so we can work from current information; your original messages remain the source for what you said.

7. Third-Party Links

Our pages link to third-party platforms such as maps, booking sites, payment providers, and official government sources. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies.

8. Data Retention

Account data is kept while your account exists. If you ask us to delete your account, we remove it; questions you posted in Ask may remain in anonymised form so other travellers can still benefit from the answers. Download and event records are deleted with the account. You may request earlier deletion; if information is still needed to support an active booking, we will explain how deletion affects the service before proceeding.

9. International Processing

Our users and service providers may be located in different countries. By using this site or contacting us, you understand that information may be processed in countries other than where you live.

10. Your Choices

You can ask us for access to your data, a correction, deletion, or a copy of the information you provided, and you can ask us to restrict or stop using it. These rights come from EU data-protection law. You can also lodge a complaint with the data-protection authority of the country where you live, or of the country where we are established.

To exercise any of this, go to the Contact page and use the email button. We reply within 30 days and never charge for it.

11. Sensitive Information You Should Not Send

Please don't send us passwords, full payment card details, one-time codes, account access, passport or ID scans, full bank statements, or sensitive medical, legal, or insurance documents. If a passport detail matters to a travel question, tell us in text instead of sending a scan. We can usually work from links, screenshots, and descriptions.

12. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the information we hold. No internet service can guarantee perfect security, so please avoid sending highly sensitive information unless it is necessary.

13. Children

Our services are intended for adults planning travel. If you are under the age required to consent in your location, please use the service with a parent or guardian.

14. Changes

If this policy changes, we update this page and the date above. Material changes affecting registered users are announced by email.

15. Contact

VisitChinaHelp is an independent travel-information and planning service operated from the European Union. Full business registration details will be added to this page before public launch. For any privacy question - including the rights listed above - go to the Contact page and use the email button.