International arrivals in China surge by 152.7% in first half

From January to June, immigration authorities across China handled 287 million entries and exits, an increase of 70.9 percent year-on-year. Notably, international arrivals to China skyrocketed by 152.7 percent, according to latest data released by the National Immigration Administration on Friday.

Among the total entries and exits, mainland residents accounted for 137 million entries and exits, residents of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan for 121 million, and foreigners for 29.22 million, the administration told a Friday press conference.

In the first half of the year, 14.635 million foreign nationals entered the country through various ports, a year-on-year increase of 152.7 percent, it said.

Among them, 8.542 million people entered visa-free, accounting for 52 percent, a year-on-year increase of 190.1 percent. The administration predicts that the enthusiasm of foreigners coming to China in the second half of this year will continue to rise.

Most recently, China implemented a visa-free policy for passport holders from New Zealand, Australia, and Poland on Monday. Citizens of these countries can now enter China without a visa for purposes including business, tourism, visiting relatives, and transit for up to 15 days.

With the 144-hour visa-free transit, more foreigners are taking the opportunity to visit China, creating extensive vlogs during their travels.

In addition, during the six months, the immigration authorities issued a total of 12.34 million ordinary passports to Chinese citizens, a year-on-year increase of 23.2 percent, and 46.152 million permits were issued to mainland residents for entry and exit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8 percent.

A total of 1.431 million residents of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan were issued mainland travel documents, which remained basically the same year-on-year.

The issuance of port visas has experienced a year-on-year increase of 267.9 percent with a total of 686,000 port visas issued, meanwhile, 388,000 residence permits were issued for foreigners in China, a year-on-year increase of 2.4 percent, according to the immigration authorities.

On cracking down on crimes that hinder border management, immigration authorities in the first half of 2024 have investigated and handled 18,000 related cases, arrested more than 34,000 suspects.

More than 41,000 foreigners were apprehended in the crackdown, of whom more than 10,000 have been deported.

Of the total illegal cases, 298 were drug cases involving 379 people, including 66 cases involving more than 10,000 grams each, and the authorities seized a total of 4.8 tons of various drugs.

They have cracked down on illegal activities such as firearms, explosives, smuggling in border areas, seized 786 firearms, 26,000 bullets, and confiscated smuggled goods worth 6.4 billion yuan, in order to fully maintain the security and stability of the national border.