CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- On July 1, it's learned from Chongqing Frontier Inspection Station that in the first half of this year, the station inspected over 820,000 entry and exit personnel, 2.7 times that of the same period last year. They also inspected over 7,000 inbound and outbound flights, twice the number from the previous year, and checked more than 150,000 foreign nationals entering and exiting the country, 4.9 times the number from last year.

Since December last year, China has successively implemented visa-free entry policies 3 times for 15 countries, entering the "mutual visa-free era" with countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Georgia. An increasing number of foreign nationals have entered Chongqing through these visa-free policies.

The expansion of the visa-free scope has further enhanced foreign tourists' enthusiasm for visiting China. In the first half of this year, the countries with the largest number of foreign nationals entering China via Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport were Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and Vietnam. Nearly 40,000 foreign nationals entered China under the visa-free policy, 77 times that of the first half of 2023. Their main purposes for coming to China were leisure tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and business meetings.

The visa-free agreements not only attract more foreign nationals to China, but also encourage other countries and regions to grant visa-free or visa-on-arrival policies to Chinese citizens, thereby promoting outbound travel for Chinese citizens. Statistics show that in the first half of this year, the number of mainland residents entering and exiting through Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport reached over 540,000, about 2.3 times that of the same period last year. Mainland residents' outbound travel is still mainly to short- and medium-distance countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, and Hong Kong and Macau. The top five outbound destinations are Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy, and Malaysia.

As the summer vacation approaches and the number of entry and exit flights and routes continues to increase, the number of people entering and exiting Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport will further rise. To ensure safe and smooth customs clearance during the summer vacation, Chongqing Frontier Inspection Station will further address the bottlenecks affecting passenger clearance efficiency, accurately predict peak passenger flows, dynamically allocate duty personnel based on passenger flow, and scientifically adjust the number of channels according to the ratio of Chinese and foreign passengers. They will also implement a system for foreigners to fill out entry registration cards in advance, either on the plane or online, saving clearance time. Additionally, timely explanations of visa-free policies and customs clearance tips will be released to ensure smooth travel for both domestic and international passengers. (Translated by Liu Sha, Fathom Language Limited)