Pingxiang City in Guangxi, the "Southern Gate of China" located on the Sino-Vietnamese border, was once a border fortress with few tourists. Nowadays, cross-border study, border sightseeing, and border self-driving are blooming in many places. Convenient and efficient customs clearance services, rich and diversified cultural tourism formats, and in-depth cross-border cooperation allow Pingxiang border tourism to continue to go out of the circle, and truly realize the development of borders and the enrichment of people through tourism.
Recently, in the entry-exit reception service hall of the Pingxiang Municipal Public Security Bureau, more than 300 teachers and students from the Guangxi International Studies University were going through entry-exit procedures. Thanks to the innovative "meet-before-schedule" innovative model, a single person can complete entry and exit procedures in as little as 30 seconds.
According to Fang Mingjian, the teacher of the study group, the team plans to visit Pingxiang first, and then exit from the Friendship Pass Port to start a two-day cross-border study trip on the China-Vietnam border.
Behind the booming development of cross-border tourism is the continuous innovation of port service efficiency and the continuous optimization of the business environment. In particular, the changes in the certificate application business at the entry and exit windows are the most intuitive. From the past manual filling in forms, waiting in line, and paper approval, to the current online UnionPay, self-service form filling, smart endorsement, and one-window acceptance, people can apply for certificates from "several times" to "one time", with shorter time limits, simpler processes, and better experience.
This 300-member cross-border study team is an epitome of the popularity of cross-border tourism in Pingxiang. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Pingxiang City. Looking back at the beginning of the city's founding, Pingxiang's border control was strict and the tourism industry was almost blank. As the pace of border opening continues to accelerate, Pingxiang tourism started from a single border tour. After decades of intensive cultivation, it has completely bid farewell to the superficial tourism model of transit check-in. Since the resumption of cross-border tourism in 2023, Pingxiang's border tourism market has recovered rapidly, with the number of entries and exits at Youyi Pass reaching new highs.
Tour guide Ye Jing said: "Pingxiang's tourism industry has changed a lot in recent years. Tourists are no longer just elderly sightseeing groups. There are more and more young people, parents and children, and study tourists. The routes have also developed from simple border check-in to border customs self-driving, in-depth experience and other options. The number of tourists is increasing year by year. It is fast to apply for permits, customs clearance is faster, and the facilities are getting better and better. We can save worry when leading groups, tourists have less queues, and have a more relaxed and comfortable time."
While improving customs clearance efficiency, Pingxiang also relies on its port location advantages to continue to explore the characteristics of border cultural tourism, continuously enrich cultural tourism formats, innovate policy models, deepen cross-border cooperation, and promote the border cultural tourism industry from "single point breakthrough" to "global prosperity."
Mo Li, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of Pingxiang City Culture, Tourism, Sports, Radio, Film and Television Bureau, said that in recent years, the local government has promoted the upgrading of business formats, completed the transformation and upgrading of Puzhai Street, promoted the transformation of traditional border trade markets into new landmarks of cross-border cultural tourism, and boosted the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry through events to gather popularity, festivals to build brands, and commerce to activate power.
At the same time, Pingxiang has improved the cross-border tourism cooperation mechanism, signed a cross-border tourism cooperation zone intention agreement with Vietnam, established a regular joint discussion mechanism between China and Vietnam, and jointly promoted the construction of a cross-border tourism cooperation zone. The local government has also extended the stay time for border tourism to 2 days and 1 night, and implemented the "group entry and group exit" mode through the Puzhai Yixinqing travel inspection channel, building a dual-channel border tourism pattern with Youyiguan as the core and Puzhaiyixinqing as the supplement.
The implementation of a series of measures has brought visible market results. In September this year, Pingxiang welcomed the first batch of Vietnam's inbound self-driving tour fleet, achieving a "zero breakthrough" in inbound cross-border self-driving tours; the "Hundred Vehicles Crossing the Border, Thousands of Vehicles Ride" activity carried out during the China-Vietnam Border Tourism Festival set a precedent for cross-border inbound motorcycle tourism in Guangxi and marked a new breakthrough in cross-border inbound motorcycle tourism between China and Vietnam.
Since the beginning of this year, as of the end of October, Pingxiang has received 130,700 border tourists, a year-on-year increase of 25.27%.
