Chinese mainland residents made 14.61 million trips abroad in the first half of this year, up 9.58 percent over the same period last year, according to official statistics.

According to the statistics of the exit and entry administration of the Ministry of Public Security, China's Hong Kong, China's Macao, Japan, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia, the United States, Thailand, Singapore and Australia received the biggest number of trips made by Chinese mainlanders during this period.

Among these trips, around 2.78 million were for sightseeing, and approximately 2.11 million were for conferences and business affairs.

The statistics also show the Chinese mainland hosted 9.62 million trips made by overseas people in the fist six months of this year, up 28.75 percent. These visitors came from 196 countries and regions.

The ROK, Japan, Russia, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and the UK were the top 10 biggest sources of these trips to China.

4.4 million of the trips were made for sightseeing while 1.52 million for conferences and business affairs.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2005)