China’s immigration authorities report that their agency processed 163 million passenger trips in the first quarter of this year.
In the report released by China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) on Tuesday, 15th April, there was a 15.3 percent increase year-on-year in terms of recorded passenger trips.
This total includes 80.27 million trips by Chinese mainland residents, 65.72 million by those from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan island, and 17.44 million by foreign nationals.
Islanders are going places
It was noted that trips by those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan island increased by 11.2 percent, with an increase of 33.4 percent from the foreign visitors.
There was also an increase in terms of cross-border transport, as authorities inspected 8.495 million vehicles covering land, sea, and air; the total was up 15.5 percent year-on-year.
NIA spokesperson Lin Yongsheng declared that the administration will steadily expand institutional openness in immigration management, and introduce more effective entry and exit policies, along with new measures to improve border-crossing convenience.
Data on foreign travellers
Around 60 percent of the foreign visitors to China opted for cross-regional travel, significantly boosting the inbound tourism market.
Since the introduction of the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, the number of international passenger flights has surpassed 100,000, a nearly 10 percent increase from the previous period.
Tourist destinations like Huangshan Mountain in East China’s Anhui Province, Wuyi Mountain in East China’s Fujian Province and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Central China’s Hunan Province likewise saw a 21.6 percent year-on-year rise in foreign visitors.
As of the end of March, a total of 9.215 million inbound trips were made by foreign visitors through ports nationwide, a 40.2 percent year-on-year increase. Of these, 6.57 million inbound trips were made under visa-free policies, accounting for 71.3 percent of the total.
The sharp rise was largely attributed to the implementation of the policy, which has fueled continued growth in inbound tourism.
