Nearly 17.8m cross-border trips made during Spring Festival holiday

Nearly 17.8 million cross-border trips were made during this year's Spring Festival holiday from Feb 15 to 23, averaging nearly 2 million trips per day, up 10.1 percent year-on-year compared to the same period last year, the National Immigration Administration said on Tuesday.

The peak single-day traffic was recorded on Saturday, reaching nearly 2.26 million trips.

Of the total, mainland residents accounted for 9.51 million trips, a daily average increase of 10.2 percent compared to last year, while residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan made nearly 7 million trips, up 8 percent year-on-year.

Foreign nationals accounted for 1.31 million trips, marking a 21.8 percent year-on-year increase in daily average. In addition, among inbound foreign travelers, 460,000 entered under visa-free policies, an increase of 28.5 percent year-on-year.

Border authorities also inspected 705,000 vehicles, vessels, trains and aircraft during the holiday period, an increase of 19.4 percent in daily average compared to last year.