Mini program saves tourists' customs clearance time

A mini WeChat program called Tourists'  Fingertip Service rolled out by Guangzhou customs started to run on-line on Aug 12.

The program is the first customs declaration product in the country to serve entry-exit tourists under the Internet Plus government service model.

It breaks restriction of time and space, which means that tourists can declare their needs in advance and avoid waiting in line at the service windows.

The mini program now operates in Guangzhou' s seven ports including Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou East Railway Station, Panyu Lianhuashan Passenger Transport Port, Nansha Cruise Ship Home Port, Foshan Shunde Passenger Transportation Port and Foshan Gaoming Passenger Transportation Port.

"These pieces of photographic equipment are all I need to declare. But my eyesight is too poor to fill in the declaration forms since I' m getting on in years. This mini program is really convenient for me," a shutterbug surnamed Chi said at Guangzhou East Railway Station.

"Certificates of quarantine and immunization and electronic chip numbers are now approved for inspection by uploading a picture and it only takes two or three minutes," said a lady surnamed Li who was carrying a pet cat at Baiyun International Airport.

"Functions like warm tip, article database, automatic calculation of tax payment and OCR of photos shortens the process of declaration," said Feng Ruilin, luggage and mail section chief of the Guangzhou customs supervision office.

In the first half of this year, Guangzhou customs regulated 11.72 billion entry-exit items and handled the declaration of over 15,000 transiting tourists.