China-Laos Railway international trains witness the popularity of inbound tourism in Yunnan and take multiple measures to improve customs clearance experience

On September 25, in an international train on the China-Laos Railway loaded with passengers from all over the world, Laotian tourist Chanthaphon held his mobile phone and kept taking pictures of the scenery passing by outside the window. "It's still midsummer in Vientiane in the morning, and it's already autumn in Kunming in the evening." He said in fluent Chinese that he came here during the Mid-Autumn Festival just to feel the festive atmosphere of Yunnan.

The popularity of this train is a microcosm of Yunnan’s efforts in inbound tourism through a series of measures to “introduce tourists to Yunnan”. Ctrip data shows that the communication effect of "China Travel" is still being released. The beautiful scenery of Yunnan not only continues to attract Southeast Asian and East Asian neighbors, but also "fans" of global tourists from Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc., and the tourist source territory is accelerating expansion.

September 27 is World Tourism Day, and it is the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. Yunnan uses "appreciating autumn and appreciating the moon" as a guide to promote the product matrix of "culture + ecology + cross-border" to international tourists. The province has launched 835 cultural tourism activities and measures to benefit the people, simultaneously launched 5 autumn tour routes and optimized and upgraded the supply of inbound tourism products, covering landscape tourism, pastoral autumn harvest, ethnic humanities, health and wellness travel and other types.

Visit the Daguan Zhuanxin Farmers' Market to purchase specialty foods, and go to the east bank of Dianchi Lake to experience the "Danxia·Opening and Closing Floating Bridge Mid-Autumn Night"... Many new ways to play better meet the changes in demand, allowing inbound tourists to understand and live from beginning to end, helping Kunming become a popular cultural experience destination for Mid-Autumn Festival arrivals.

In addition, more and more emerging destinations in the province are being explored and created. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Xuanwei Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau invited Yunnan Tilang International Travel Agency, which is deeply involved in inbound and outbound tourism, to the Nizhu River Grand Canyon Scenic Area to conduct inspections of high-quality tourist routes and expand the inbound market.

At the level of service guarantee, Yunnan has done practical and detailed related work and further made full use of policies such as 240-hour transit visa exemption and visa exemption for ASEAN tourist groups entering Xishuangbanna to maximize the release of dividends.

Kunming Changshui International Airport Customs has deepened the application of "smart travel inspection" scenarios, upgraded inspection equipment, optimized customs clearance routes, scientifically deployed manpower, strengthened on-site guidance, and shortened port customs clearance time. Since the implementation of the new policy of departure tax refund 2.0, the customs has accepted and verified 835 departure tax refund applications, with an application amount of 7.35 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 2.7 times and 27% respectively.

The Hekou Border Inspection Station comprehensively strengthens the monitoring of entry and exit flows and port operations, optimizes on-site service deployment during the holidays, opens additional inspection and release channels during peak hours, and actively guides entry and exit passengers to travel in a safe and orderly manner. On September 25, the number of inbound and outbound passengers at Hekou Port reached 16,287.

The next stop of the train is Yunnan, and the next stop of the Mid-Autumn Festival is reunion. During this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, Yunnan is sincerely inviting tourists from all over the world with a more convenient customs clearance experience, a richer product supply and warmer service details.

Reporter Zhu Hai