VISA-FREE POLICIES BOOST HOLIDAY TRAVEL

Data from China's National Immigration Administration indicate that cross-border travel is expected to rise in both directions during this year's Spring Festival holiday. Daily inbound and outbound passenger trips are projected to exceed 2.05 million, up 14.1 percent compared with the same period last year.

The expansion of mutual visa-free arrangements between China and several countries, including Russia and Brazil, has made overseas travel more accessible for holidaymakers.

On Monday, also the Chinese New Year's Eve, the third "Happy Chinese New Year" event opened at Manezhnaya Square in Moscow. Despite temperatures dropping to minus 15 degrees Celsius and the day falling on a workday, residents and tourists gathered at the venue in falling snow to join the celebrations.

A tourist surnamed Wu from East China's Zhejiang province said his family chose to spend the holiday in Russia this year to experience a different Spring Festival abroad. They also traveled to Murmansk, a city in the Arctic Circle, where they viewed the aurora over the Arctic Ocean.