Yunnan cross-border tours trendy during holiday

During the May Day holiday that lasted from April 29 to May 3, the cross-border tours around the Yunnan border towns have formed a trend thanks to the optimized policies for entry and exit.

A night market near the China-Laos border. File photo/Yunnan Daily

The cross-border passenger trains on the China-Laos Railway have been a hit since mid-April. According to China Railway Kunming Group, the D887 train from Kunming to Vientiane was fully occupied in the first three days of the holiday.

During the holiday, the Ruili trading zone near the China-Myanmar border was crowded with buyers and visitors. "Not only can I take photos at the border gate, but I can also enjoy the benefits of duty-free shopping," said Li Jiang, a tourist from Yunnan’s neighboring Guizhou province.

Cross-border tourists enter China via a check point. File photo/Yunnan Daily

On April 29 and 30, the Hekou check point near the China-Vietnam border saw 10,166 and 10,697 cross-border trips respectively, a day-on-day increase of 25% compared with that on April 1. Hekou accordingly implemented measures to ensure speed, safety and order in customs clearance.

According to Ctrip, a rapidly-growing global online travel agency, orders of Yunnan cross-border tours during the May Day holiday increased by 66% month-on-month as of April 28, and the popular destinations were Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia. Among them, the orders of the tours to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam increased by 57%, 177% and 236% respectively.

 

Passenger planes are parked at central Yunnan's Kunming airport. File photo/Yunnan Daily

To meet the tourists' needs in outbound travel, China Eastern Yunnan Airlines planned to operate 70 flights from April 29 to May 3, bounding for the airports in Yangon, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Colombo and Dubai.

Reporting by Zhu Hai (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue