China expects more than 1 million passenger trips to be made on a newly opened high-speed rail link to Laos during the peak Lunar New Year travel season early next year, despite COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Since its opening on Dec. 3, more than 300,000 passengers have travelled on the China side of the rail line, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.

Laos said this week it would reopen for tourists on Jan. 1. People living in five Laotian provinces along the Laos-China railway are to receive COVID-19 booster shots before the reopening to tourism.

It is unclear how busy the line will be around the Lunar New Year, which begins on Feb. 1. Permission from the Laotian government is needed prior to entry. Travellers also face lengthy spells of quarantine on both the Chinese and Laotian sides.