China-Laos Railway’s Mohan Port Sees Surge in Cross-Border Travel During Spring Festival Travel Rush

During this year’s Spring Festival travel rush, the Mohan Railway Port on the China-Laos Railway inspected more than 54,000 inbound and outbound passengers, representing a year-on-year increase of over 30% compared with the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush. This marks the third consecutive year of positive growth in cross-border passengers during the Spring Festival travel rush since the launch of international passenger trains on the China-Laos Railway.

“I have long heard that traveling by China-Laos Railway is very convenient, so I brought my family to experience the international train,” a passenger from Chongqing surnamed Zhang told reporters. “I never expected that we could realize a family trip abroad with so little money!”

This year’s Spring Festival travel rush coincided with the winter vacation and spring opening of Southeast Asian international students, family Spring Festival trips and elderly tropical tours. Coupled with the continuous expansion of China’s visa-free “circle of friends”, the Mohan Port inspected nearly 4,500 foreign inbound passengers from 58 countries and regions, a year-on-year increase of over 35%. Among them, visa-free inbound passengers accounted for more than 43%, an increase of over 19% year-on-year. An increasing number of foreign tourists have chosen to come to China for the Spring Festival on a “spontaneous trip”, with custom experience tours, ice and snow tours, food tours and historical and cultural check-in tours becoming popular travel items during the Spring Festival.

Su Mali, a Laotian daughter-in-law married to a Chinese, brought her relatives from Laos to China to celebrate the Spring Festival this year. “We are going to visit Xishuangbanna, taste its characteristic food and experience the Dai ethnic minority’s scenic spots,” she said.

In response to the increasing cross-border passenger flow during the Spring Festival travel rush, the Mohan Border Checkpoint has continuously optimized on-site service organization, scientifically increased police force at on-site duty posts and opened “Spring Festival Special Channels” and “Visa-free Special Channels”. It has timely released “two announcements and one reminder”, fully implemented convenient measures such as real-time notification of port flow, online appointment for tour groups, “classified and diverted” inbound and outbound passengers and “tidal windows”, and set up pre-positioned foreigner entry card filling points.

Warm-hearted services such as luggage carrying and voluntary assistance for the elderly have been actively provided, and police officers proficient in English, French, Lao and other foreign languages have been selected to form an on-site mobile service team. At the same time, close cooperation and linkage with customs, railway and other departments have been strengthened to ensure smooth customs clearance at the port during the Spring Festival travel rush.