North China city expands cross-border tourism through improved air links, local advantages

Hulunbuir, a northern Chinese city famed for its vast grassland and Mongolian traditions, is striving to expand cross-border tourism by boosting air links and leveraging its geographical advantages, as China's visa-free policies and establishment of a new free trade pilot zone both drive demand.

The city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region launched direct flights to Hong Kong in April last year, making Hong Kong a key hub linking Hulunbuir to Southeast Asia. The service operated 162 flights carrying 17,753 passengers in 2025, with a consistently high load factor.

Now, Hulunbuir plans to increase the number of direct flights with Hong Kong by 40 percent this year, compared with 2025, according to a local official.

The city also held a promotion event in Hong Kong on Sunday to showcase its tourism resources, as Hulunbuir marked the first anniversary of the launch of its direct route with Hong Kong.

"This year we are planning to increase flight numbers by 40 percent over the previous year, and hope that more visitors from Hong Kong and overseas can come to Hulunbuir though these flights," said Zhu Guangyu, deputy director of the city's Culture, Tourism, Radio and Broadcast Bureau.

Meanwhile, cross-border tourism with neighboring Mongolia and Russia is also rising.

China approved establishing the China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone in a State Council circular issued on April 9, calling on the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to leverage its geographical advantages to deeply participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road and the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.

North China city expands cross-border tourism through improved air links, local advantages

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Monday launched the first phase of a new claims system that will allow importers to seek repayment of tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Companies and their customs brokers can submit refund requests through CBP's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) portal using a newly developed tool known as the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, starting Monday.

Once a claim is validated, CBP will recalculate the duties without the IEEPA tariffs and reliquidate the entries, triggering repayment. The refunds will be paid directly to the businesses that originally paid the tariffs, local media reported Monday.

Valid refunds will generally be issued within 60 to 90 days after a claim is accepted, CBP said, though more complex cases could take longer.

CBP is rolling out the refund process in phases. Court filings show that more than 330,000 importers paid duties on over 53 million shipments, totaling roughly 166 billion U.S. dollars.

The Supreme Court ruled in February that U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs under IEEPA are unconstitutional. It is Congress, not the president, that holds authority over such taxes.

Following the ruling, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade directed CBP to remove the tariffs from affected entries and refund any excess duties collected, along with interest.

U.S. gov't begins refunding tariffs to businesses