A total of 500,000 trips to or from China have been recorded in 2025 at the Urumqi Tianshan International Airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region -- the highest figure for the January-July period in a decade.

By Monday, foreign nationals had made more than 146,000 trips to China via the airport this year, which was a year-on-year increase of 30 percent, according to statistics from the airport's immigration authorities. Of those trips, 39,000 were visa-free entries.

Approximately 40 percent of these foreign visitors were traveling for tourism, the immigration authorities said, noting that business and visits to relatives or friends were the second and third most common reasons for border entry among foreigners.

The airport's passenger and cargo capacities received a major boost when a new terminal began operations three months ago. The new terminal is a key part of the airport's expansion project, which began in 2019.

With the expansion, the airport now has three runways -- a significant increase from its previous one -- and can accommodate up to 48 million passengers and 550,000 tonnes of cargo annually. It is now capable of supporting nearly 367,000 aircraft takeoffs and landings each year.

"As an air transport hub for China's westward opening-up, the Urumqi Tianshan International Airport is making progress in various aspects, boosting the high-standard opening-up of the country's northwest region," said He Mingxing, a scholar at Xinjiang University.

The new terminal is a representative of the rapid development of civil aviation infrastructure in Xinjiang.

And with the Barkol Dahe Airport officially beginning operations on Tuesday, Xinjiang's total number of civil airports has risen to 28 -- the highest among all provincial-level regions in China.

As the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xinjiang has been working hard to accelerate its airport construction. The number of airports in the region -- both operational and under construction -- is expected to reach 33 by the end of 2025.

Many international travelers come to China to buy goods like daily necessities and electronic devices, and airports in Xinjiang have been enhancing their consumption experience and tax-refund-upon-departure services for these visitors.

At the Urumqi Tianshan International Airport, a 24-hour outlet and self-service counter are in place to facilitate these services.

"We processed a total of 168 tax-refund-upon-departure transactions by July 12, which was an increase of more than 500 percent from the same period last year," said Liu Jiawei, head of the outlet, which is operated by a local bank.

Xinjiang is not only an important window for China's westward opening-up; it also has the potential to become a consumption hub connecting Central Asian countries with the Chinese market, and to play a more strategic role in enhancing an outward-looking economy, He said.