With the 22nd China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit now underway, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China's Guangdong Province has reported a surge in numbers of passengers from ASEAN countries this year.
Data from local border authorities shows that by Tuesday, the major air transport hub had handled approximately 1.5 million inbound and outbound travelers from ASEAN member states to date in 2025 -- a year-on-year increase of 42.6 percent. Tourists accounted for 70.5 percent of that total, which was a year-on-year rise of over 60 percent.
Over the past two years, China has gradually introduced mutual visa-exemption agreements with three ASEAN countries -- Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand -- and visa-free travel policies have boosted the people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN.
"It only takes me over three hours to fly from Bangkok to Guangzhou. Since the implementation of the visa-free policy, I come to China every month to purchase electronic products, and customs clearance is extremely convenient," Somchai Chantawani, a Thai businessman who had just completed his entry formalities at the Baiyun airport, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
This year, the airport has handled nearly 500,000 passengers from ASEAN member states under China's visa-free travel policies, a year-on-year increase of 61.3 percent.
Personnel exchanges between China and Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are the most frequent reasons for travel among these passengers, according to local border authorities. Such exchanges total 291,000 between China and Malaysia for the year to date, 117,000 between China and Singapore, and 104,000 between China and Thailand, with respective year-on-year growth rates at over 41 percent, 53 percent and 67 percent.
As economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN deepens, and as demand for travel to China grows thanks to the country's updated visa policies, the number of routes from the Baiyun airport to ASEAN destinations has increased. Currently, there are over 100 stable weekly passenger routes linking Guangzhou to ASEAN cities.
To handle the surge in passenger numbers ahead of the China-ASEAN Expo, local border authorities have been promoting paperless customs clearance and providing multilingual services, enhancing the traveler experience.
