The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which concluded on Friday, saw Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport solidify its status as a key international aviation hub, handling a record volume of passenger traffic.

According to data released by the Baiyun Immigration Inspection Station, the airport recorded over 2.05 million inbound and outbound passenger trips, a 16.1 percent increase year-on-year. This surge in traffic was supported by more than 14,000 inbound and outbound flights, representing a 10.4 percent rise compared to the same period last year.

Among the inbound and outbound passengers, more than 520,000 passenger visits were foreign nationals, an increase of 28.9 percent year-on-year, and they included 280,000 foreign arrivals, said the statement.

And more than 51.3 percent of foreigners came to the country for tour and sightseeing purposes, while 55.8 percent of the foreign nationals took advantage of China's visa-free policies, it said.

Among them, the number of inbound tourists from the countries benefiting from visa-free policies, including Russia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, all surged by more than 40 percent year-on-year, said the statement.

Meanwhile, with the integration of Hong Kong and Shenzhen continuing to deepen, cross-border travel demand has grown steadily, making the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link service an important transportation bond for personnel exchanges in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Data shows the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link Service operated more than 420 passenger trains on average per day, transporting more than 10 million passengers during the Spring Festival travel rush period.