China braces for cross-border travel surge during Qingming holiday

BEIJING -- Cross-border travel via China's ports is expected to surge during the Qingming Festival holiday from April 4 to 6, with daily crossings projected to top 2.3 million, up 11.1 percent from a year earlier, according to immigration authorities.

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on Wednesday that passenger traffic at major international airports in Shanghai, Beijing, Southwest China's Chengdu, and Shenzhen and Guangzhou, both in South China, is expected to increase during the holiday, with Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the busiest, projected to handle an average of about 95,000 inbound and outbound trips a day.

Passenger flow at land crossings near Hong Kong and Macao is expected to rise sharply as residents from these two regions and Taiwan, along with overseas Chinese, return home for family visits and tomb-sweeping, while inbound tourism will also pick up, the NIA noted.

Shenzhen's Luohu Port, one of the busiest, is forecast to handle roughly 250,000 inbound and outbound passenger trips a day during this annual holiday.

Border inspection authorities nationwide are stepping up monitoring efforts and will open all available inspection lanes while issuing timely updates on passenger flows to help ease border crossings for travelers.