BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of inbound trips made by foreigners to China under the country's visa-free policies in 2024 doubled compared with the previous year, indicating that China's expanded visa-free policies and related gestures promoting greater openness to the world are delivering benefits and gaining recognition from travelers globally.
Border inspection agencies across China handled 64.88 million cross-border trips by foreigners in 2024, up 82.9 percent from a year earlier. Among them, more than 20 million inbound trips by foreigners were made visa-free, a year-on-year increase of 112.3 percent, according to statistics released by the National Immigration Administration (NIA) on Tuesday.
This data showed that China recorded 610 million entries and exits in 2024 -- representing an increase of 43.9 percent from the 2023 figure.
In 2024, about 2.6 million Chinese visas were issued for foreigners, up 52.3 percent year on year, the administration's data revealed. Relevant authorities also provided greater convenience for 72,000 foreign nationals in terms of visa extension, renewal and reissuing in China.
Services for Chinese mainland residents keen to travel overseas have also been streamlined. In 2024, nearly 23.32 million passports were issued to Chinese citizens -- an annual increase of 26.5 percent. In addition, over 94.5 million permits or documents were issued to mainland residents for travel to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan region last year, marking a jump of 9.8 percent compared to 2023.
Last year, a total of 291 million cross-border trips were made by mainland residents, a year-on-year increase of 41.3 percent.
Meanwhile, mainland ports recorded 254 million cross-border trips made by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents last year, up 38.8 percent year on year.
Immigration authorities also targeted crimes that sought to undermine border management, handling more than 35,000 cases and capturing over 79,000 suspects, according to the NIA.
Notably, relevant authorities busted nearly 500 drug-related cases, 105 of which involved narcotics weighing at least 10 kg -- arresting 653 people and seizing about 7.8 tonnes of narcotics. ■