In the Chinese New Year, the entry and arrival halls of the two major airports of Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao are bustling. Foreigners walked out in groups of three to start their trip to Shanghai.

It coincides with the first Spring Festival after the successful application for World Heritage. It is also the first Spring Festival after China has fully relaxed and optimized the visa-free policy for transit. Recently, the number of foreign personnel who have come to China for business, tourism, visit relatives and friends and transit has shown an upward trend.

Inbound travel orders grew rapidly during the Spring Festival

Japanese tourists stayed in Tadahiko and his wife spent the Spring Festival in China for a long time. "Now you can stay in China for 30 days without applying for a visa. It is really convenient. This time I plan to go to Shanghai and then to Hunan, and stay in China for a few more days."

According to Ctrip data, inbound travel orders increased by 203% year-on-year during the Spring Festival this year, and the main sources of customers are South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the United States, etc. Domestic destinations that foreign tourists are passionate about are Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Harbin, Chengdu, etc.

According to statistics from the Shanghai Border Inspection General Station, since the Spring Festival holiday, as of 17:00 on February 1 (the fourth day of the first lunar month), the main station has checked 41,000 foreign personnel entering the country, of which 22,000 foreign personnel without visa entry reached 53.7% of the total.

In order to cope with the peak of inbound and outbound passenger flow during the festival, Shanghai Immigration Management Police stayed at their posts during the festival, scientifically optimized their service model, continued to strengthen port customs clearance guarantees, and made every effort to create a safe and smooth customs clearance environment for inbound and outbound passengers.

It is more convenient for foreign tourists to travel

At 3 pm yesterday, French tourist Ariana came to the one-stop comprehensive service center for foreigners located at T2, Pudong Airport. "I just flew over from Paris, France and was preparing to stay in China for 14 days and go to Shanghai and Xi'an for a trip." Ariane had already launched WeChat payment before, and now she was preparing to apply for a mobile phone package. The staff recommended her a telecom package of 125 yuan for 15 days, and the business was completed within 5 minutes.

Online operation manager Zhou Dan introduced that the service center has 4 counters, corresponding to the four parts of payment, culture, tourism, communication and transportation, which are the most concentrated demand for foreign tourists; there are 4 equipment on one side. In addition to a currency exchange machine that can exchange 19 foreign currencies, there are also "Laoyouting" that can make free domestic calls for 3 minutes, a transportation card recharger that supports wild card payment, and an ATM that can provide 10 yuan denomination. At present, Shanghai has jointly built three one-stop comprehensive service centers for foreign personnel in the T1 and T2 terminals of Pudong Airport and the T1 terminal of Hongqiao Airport, providing four types of services: payment, transportation, culture and tourism, and communication. From January 28 (New Year's Eve) to February 2 (the fifth day of the first lunar month), the service center received nearly 7,000 foreign personnel for business consultation.

Chinese-style check-in is popular

It is worth mentioning that some foreign passengers who understand the scriptures have made a special trip to experience Chinese domestic aircraft and high-speed rail.

Yesterday, Richard, a British passenger from Shanghai to Chengdu, took the China Eastern Airlines C919 plane, said: "I was surprised by the C919 plane. I specially chose to travel between Shanghai and Chengdu on the C919 plane, which is very comfortable!"

It is reported that during the Spring Festival travel rush, the real-name verification equipment of Shanghai Railway stations has added OCR recognition function, passport and other certificate verification is more convenient, the ticket windows and shop payment equipment in the station are updated and upgraded, and the POS machine supports Visa and Mastercard and other commonly used wild cards.