As China prepares to welcome its five-day May Day holiday starting this Friday, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) has released projections of a significant surge in cross-border passenger travel, laying out comprehensive operational plans to keep border clearance efficient and safe for travelers.
In an announcement made Tuesday, the NIA forecasts an average of 2.25 million inbound and outbound passenger trips will pass through China’s border checkpoints each day throughout the holiday period, with daily volumes peaking above 2.4 million trips on the busiest days. The expected boom is concentrated across two key categories of ports: major international aviation hubs and land border crossings connecting the Chinese mainland with Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
Leading the country’s international airports in projected cross-border volume is Shanghai Pudong International Airport, which is set to handle an average of 102,000 inbound and outbound trips daily. It is followed by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport with 55,000 daily trips, Beijing Capital International Airport with 49,000, and both Chengdu Tianfu International Airport and Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport projected to average 20,000 daily cross-border trips each.
Land ports serving cross-border travel between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao are projected to remain at high capacity throughout the break. In the southern Guangdong province city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, the Luohu Port is expected to average 230,000 daily trips, with the Futian Port close behind at 210,000. The Shenzhen Bay Port will see an average 180,000 daily trips, the West Kowloon Station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is projected to hit 120,000 daily trips, and the Liantang Port will average 100,000 trips per day.
Across the Pearl River Delta in Zhuhai, which borders Macao, the Gongbei Port — one of the busiest land crossings for Macao-bound travel — is forecast to handle an average of 396,000 passenger trips per day, the highest volume of any individual port on the Chinese mainland during the holiday. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge crossing is projected to see 129,000 daily trips, the Qingmao Port will average 121,000, and the Hengqin Port, which serves travel to Macao’s Cotai district, will see 116,000 average daily trips.
To accommodate the unexpected travel boom, the NIA has rolled out targeted holiday arrangements for border inspection agencies across the country. All local authorities have been instructed to maintain real-time monitoring of passenger flow dynamics and port operational conditions, and release up-to-date travel information to the public to help trip planning.
A key requirement mandates that agencies open enough inspection lanes to ensure waiting times for Chinese citizens clearing customs do not exceed 30 minutes, cutting down on holiday travel delays. The NIA also called for strengthened inter-agency coordination between border inspection units, other port regulatory authorities and transport departments, to manage peak-hour crowds, upgrade transport support, and guarantee that border clearance remains safe, efficient and smooth throughout the five-day holiday period.