China’s border inspection authorities handled 11.279 million inbound and outbound trips between 1 and 5 May, according to figures released on 7 May. Daily flows averaged 2.256 million—3.5 percent higher than the same holiday in 2025—with a record 2.529 million crossings on 2 May.
![China processes 11.279 million border crossings during May Day, signalling robust travel rebound]()
For travellers and corporate mobility teams looking to navigate China’s evolving entry rules more efficiently, VisaHQ offers a one-stop solution. Its dedicated China page (https://www.visahq.com/china/) provides up-to-date guidance on visa categories, step-by-step application tools, and bulk processing options that can streamline compliance for entire work groups, making it easier to capitalise on the country’s expanding waiver programmes.
The National Immigration Administration attributes the growth to streamlined e-gate processing, the rollout of QR-code health declarations and the widening of visa-free entry channels. Of the total, 1.255 million trips were made by foreign nationals, a 12.5 percent year-on-year rise. Visa-free entrants accounted for 436,000 of those journeys, underscoring the appeal of China’s expanded waiver schemes. The data offer hard evidence that China’s reopening phase is entering a more mature stage. Airlines added nearly 1,200 extra international sectors for the holiday period, while cruise lines resumed home-port calls at Shanghai and Shenzhen. High-speed rail links to Hong Kong also operated at 98 percent of pre-pandemic frequency. For companies relocating staff, the figures suggest that processing times at major airports are stabilising below the NIA’s 30-minute benchmark, reducing the buffer HR teams must build into travel schedules. Nevertheless, peak-day congestion remains a risk at land crossings such as Shenzhen’s Futian Port and the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, where biometric e-gates are still being calibrated for foreign passports. Travel platforms report a qualitative shift too: long-haul bookings (South Africa, Belgium, Kenya, Brazil) grew faster than short-haul Southeast Asian routes, hinting at a move toward higher-value, longer-duration trips—a trend global mobility managers may need to factor into assignment logistics and budgets.
For travellers and corporate mobility teams looking to navigate China’s evolving entry rules more efficiently, VisaHQ offers a one-stop solution. Its dedicated China page (https://www.visahq.com/china/) provides up-to-date guidance on visa categories, step-by-step application tools, and bulk processing options that can streamline compliance for entire work groups, making it easier to capitalise on the country’s expanding waiver programmes.
The National Immigration Administration attributes the growth to streamlined e-gate processing, the rollout of QR-code health declarations and the widening of visa-free entry channels. Of the total, 1.255 million trips were made by foreign nationals, a 12.5 percent year-on-year rise. Visa-free entrants accounted for 436,000 of those journeys, underscoring the appeal of China’s expanded waiver schemes. The data offer hard evidence that China’s reopening phase is entering a more mature stage. Airlines added nearly 1,200 extra international sectors for the holiday period, while cruise lines resumed home-port calls at Shanghai and Shenzhen. High-speed rail links to Hong Kong also operated at 98 percent of pre-pandemic frequency. For companies relocating staff, the figures suggest that processing times at major airports are stabilising below the NIA’s 30-minute benchmark, reducing the buffer HR teams must build into travel schedules. Nevertheless, peak-day congestion remains a risk at land crossings such as Shenzhen’s Futian Port and the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, where biometric e-gates are still being calibrated for foreign passports. Travel platforms report a qualitative shift too: long-haul bookings (South Africa, Belgium, Kenya, Brazil) grew faster than short-haul Southeast Asian routes, hinting at a move toward higher-value, longer-duration trips—a trend global mobility managers may need to factor into assignment logistics and budgets.
