Guangzhou airport records over 42% rise in entry-exit visits from ASEAN

With the brisk people-to-people exchanges between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the passenger flow between ASEAN countries and China has grown rapidly since the beginning of the year.

According to a statement released by Baiyun Immigration Inspection Station in Guangzhou on Wednesday, as of Tuesday, border inspection officers from the airport have inspected and cleared about 1.5 million entry-exit personnel visits from ASEAN countries, a year-on-year increase of 42.6 percent.

Among them, tourists accounted for 70.5 percent, representing a year-on-year growth of over 60 percent, indicating the visa-free entry-exit policies have become a driving force for boosting people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN countries, it said.

Over the past two years, China has successively implemented mutual visa exemption policies with three ASEAN countries— Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been about 500,000 people visits from ASEAN countries who entered the country through the Baiyun International Airport taking advantage of the visa-free policy. It marks a year-on-year increase of 61.3 percent and accounts for 65.4 percent of the total number of ASEAN arrivals at the airport, the statement said.

Among them, passenger flows from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand came to 291,000, 117,000, and 104,000 person visits, respectively, up by more than 41 percent, 53 percent and 67 percent year-on-year.

Furthermore, with the deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN and the ongoing "China Travel", air routes from Baiyun International Airport to ASEAN destinations have been continuously expanded.

Now Baiyun International Airport, an aviation hub of the country, has over 100 regular passenger air routes operating stably to link Guangzhou to ASEAN countries every week, it said.

In response to the overlapping of ASEAN business and exhibition passenger flows during the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, running from Wednesday to Sunday, Baiyun Immigration Inspection Station said they have scientifically analyzed the passenger flow, dynamically deployed police forces, and gradually promoted "paperless" customs clearance to ensure efficient passage for exhibitors.

Meanwhile, the exit-entry ports have been equipped with enough police officers proficient in foreign languages, including Vietnamese, Thai and Malay, to provide multilingual services.