Passenger are seen at the Beijing Daxing International Airport on Dec 27, 2023. [Photo by Tao Ran/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The number of trips made by people exiting and entering China during the New Year holiday has returned to the same level as it was during the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 epidemic started, according to statistics from the National Immigration Administration.

During this year's New Year holiday, which fell between Saturday and Monday, border control agencies nationwide inspected inbound and outbound travelers about 5.18 million times, a 4.7-fold increase compared to the New Year holiday in 2023. This is roughly in line with the figure seeing during the holiday in 2019, the administration said on Tuesday.

Among them, 2.51 million trips were made by inbound travelers, and about 2.67 million trips were made by people leaving the country, it added.

Meanwhile, border control officials also inspected inbound and outbound flights, ships, trains and vehicles more than 203,000 times during this year's holiday, 1.5 times more than during the same period last year.

To ensure people could enter and exit the country smoothly and effectively, the administration deployed more officers, opened up more inspection channels and promptly guided the flow of inbound and outbound passengers during the holiday, according to the administration.