China Vietnam Photo: VCG

The China-Vietnam Detian Waterfall cross-border tourism cooperation zone, the first cross-border tourism cooperation zone in China, officially opened on Tuesday, as bilateral relations witness more fruitful results.

The zone began trial operation on September 15, 2023, as the result of joint efforts by both sides. Chinese and Vietnamese tourists have been visiting through group bookings, fixed routes, time-limited crossings and limited quotas, China Media Group (CMG) reported on Tuesday.
 
As of October 10, 2024, the cooperation zone had received 1,232 cross-border travel groups from China and Vietnam, with 17,991 visitor trips, CMG reported.

With the official operation of the cooperation zone, relevant authorities will further optimize cross-border travel procedures. This will include expanding the visitor capacity, increasing the daily limit for cross-border visitors from either side from 500 to 1,000, and implementing dynamic adjustments based on the number of daily cross-border tourists.

Additionally, the visiting hours will be extended. The operating hours of the cooperation zone will be adjusted from the original 10 am to 5 pm (Beijing time) to 9 am to 6 pm, allowing each tour group an extended visit of six hours on the other side instead of five.

Cross-border procedures will be optimized. Tourists will be able to make reservations through the government service platform of Guangxi Public Security on China's social media platform WeChat instead of doing it on-site.

The declaration process for items carried by tourists will also be simplified, particularly for ordinary items like cameras.

The cooperation zone was also mentioned in a joint statement on Monday. The two sides announced the official operation of the zone, encouraging tourists from both sides to travel to each other's countries, and promoting the rapid recovery and healthy development of tourism and aviation cooperation.

The official operation of this cross-border tourism cooperation zone, a landmark project representing the joint efforts of both sides, will undoubtedly promote people-to-people exchanges, in addition to the economic results from the boosting of regional tourism, Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Such a cooperative model serves as a great example and is expected to be promoted in more locations, Gu said.