Airplanes at Nanjing Lukou International Airport (CFP)

Border ports in Jiangsu Province recorded 970,000 inbound and outbound trips during July and August, marking an increase of 63.9% year-on-year, according to the data released by the province’s immigration administration on September 2.

During this period, the number of outbound trips by Chinese citizens surged by 73.6% year-on-year to over 400,000. Popular destinations included Japan and South Korea. The majority of these travellers were families and students attending overseas summer camps.

The number of inbound trips by foreigners also increased significantly, partly due to mutual visa exemption agreements and the 144-hour visa-free transit policy.

During the 62-day summer travel season, over 48,000 foreign nationals entered and exited the border port at Nanjing Lukou International Airport, an increase of 42.6% year-on-year. Among them, more than 7,000 foreign nationals entered via the visa-free initiative, which is 2.2 times the figure than the same period in 2023.