On the morning of May 17th, as all border inspection channels were fully operational, the entry hall of Yunnan's Mohan Port was bustling with people. "This is my third visit to China, but visa exemption made it much more convenient than before this time! China has many beautiful scenic spots, and I hope to visit China for tourism every year!" said a Thai tourist. According to statistics from the Mohan Border Checkpoint, since the beginning of this year, the checkpoint has cleared 2,380 tour groups for entry and exit, totaling 31,763 people, representing an increase of 1,406% and 919% respectively compared to last year; the highest number of tour groups cleared for entry and exit in a single day has exceeded 60, totaling over 1,200 individuals.

"The favorable policies have led to a 'two-way street'," said a person in charge of the Mohan Border Inspection Station. Following the mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Thailand, the enthusiasm of Thai tourists traveling to China has surged. Chinese tourism products, such as cultural and folk tours, have become increasingly popular among Thai tourists. The number of tourists entering Thailand has skyrocketed, accounting for about 40% of the third-country passengers entering and exiting the border through the port.

Qin Yong, a tour guide from Yunnan Ganglong Travel Agency, has been in the tourism industry for 15 years. Since the beginning of this year, he has hardly had a day off, working overtime continuously. "Since April this year, whether it is Thai groups entering China or Chinese groups exiting to Thailand, the market has been very hot. My number of groups has increased from two or three a month to five or six, and basically all the leaders in our company have been fully scheduled," stated Qin Yong. 

As China's opening-up accelerates, cross-border tourism has become an important channel and method for promoting cultural exchanges and people-to-people connections between countries. Given that this year is Laos' "Tourism Year" and the Lao government has introduced a series of tourism facilitation policies, a large number of Chinese tourists have been attracted to travel to Laos, marking a peak of outbound tourist groups at Yunnan's Mohan Road Port.

"Since the Mohan Road Port restored border tourism between China and Laos last September, more and more tourists from all over the country have been exiting the border through Mohan. The highest number of border tourism groups cleared for exit in a single day has reached over 50, accounting for 900 individuals," said Nie Lifei, a police officer at the Mohan Border Checkpoint. Up till May 17th of this year, a total of 912 border tourism groups, accounting for 11,989 individuals, had exited through the Mohan Road Port for tourism.

Since the beginning of this year, there has been a substantial increase in third-country passengers entering and exiting through both the Mohan Road and Railway Ports. As of May 17th, the Mohan Border Checkpoint had cleared over 20,000 entry and exit personnel from 78 different countries, excluding China and Laos, representing an increase of 56% and 378% respectively compared to the same period last year. Of these, about 49% of the entry and exit personnel were for tourism purposes, an increase of 458% over the previous year.

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(Editors: Lexi, Ines)