People visit the China-Vietnam Detian Waterfall cross-border tourism cooperation zone in the border city of Chongzuo in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

NANNING — Vuong Van Thanh, a tour guide from Vietnam, recently led 19 compatriots across the Beilunhe Bridge connecting the Vietnamese city of Mong Cai with China's Dongxing for a one-day tour of the border city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Separated from Mong Cai only by a river, Dongxing facilitates close interactions between border residents of China and Vietnam. It is also a popular tourist destination for Vietnamese tourists looking to experience Chinese customs and cuisine.

"Our guests are very interested in Chinese food and think it is very distinctive. This time, they have come for a special chicken soup," the tour guide said.

According to data from Fliggy, one of China's leading travel platforms, outbound travel experienced a peak in bookings during the recent May Day holiday, with bookings for travel services seeing strong growth of nearly 100 percent. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries were among the popular destinations for outbound tourism from China.

One-day tours to border cities such as Dongxing and Pingxiang, including shopping in supermarkets, buying small household appliances and sampling delicious foods, have become popular among Vietnamese tourists in recent years.

The May Day holiday is a statutory break in both China and Vietnam, and it is also a peak season for cross-border tourism for people from the two countries.

The general border inspection station in Guangxi expects that more than 140,000 inbound and outbound passengers traveled through Dongxing Port this May Day holiday, and Youyiguan Port likely saw more than 45,000 inbound and outbound passengers.

"During the May Day holiday, more than 200 tour groups are expected to have entered and exited the country in a single day. In order to cope with the peak passenger flow, we promptly communicated with Vietnamese travel agencies and inspection departments to obtain transit information of tour groups in advance, so as to reduce waiting time for passengers and provide a better travel experience for them," said Huang Yeqiang, who works for the Dongxing entry-exit border checkpoint.

"During the May Day holiday, our agency's more than 20 Vietnamese-speaking tour guides were all booked, and they were simply too busy," said Ye Xiaozhou, deputy general manager of Pingxiang South International Travel Agency Co Ltd, adding that cross-border tourism is recovering rapidly.

Self-driving tours are also a new trend in cross-border tourism between China and Vietnam.

During the holiday, Pingxiang Peace International Travel Service Co Ltd organized a cross-border self-driving tour involving 13 vehicles and 29 people, which visited Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Halong Bay and other places in Vietnam.

"We hope to cooperate with more Vietnamese travel agencies and domestic car clubs, so that more Chinese self-driving tour enthusiasts can travel to Vietnam through Friendship Pass, enjoy exotic scenery, taste special delicacies and experience folk customs," said Liang Yunyan, general manager of the travel agency.

Cross-border tourism has flourished with the deepening of tourism cooperation between China and Vietnam. The two sides have worked together to explore new forms of cross-border tourism and promote the construction of cross-border tourism cooperation zones.

The China-Vietnam Detian Waterfall cross-border tourism cooperation zone, which began trial operations on Sept 15 in the border city of Chongzuo in Guangxi, has witnessed an increase in the number of tourists from both countries.

The zone also rolled out a series of events to attract tourists during the May Day holiday, including talks and interactive activities.

Xinhua