Government News
Shanghai sees surge in cross-border trips during Spring Festival holiday 2025-02-06
A French couple Tristan and Anouk Masselin visit Yuyuan Garden area in east China's Shanghai, Feb. 1, 2025. As the Chinese people are celebrating the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, they have been joined this year by an increased number of foreign tourists, who have come to experience Chinese culture following the implementation of a new visa-free transit policy.
Shanghai saw nearly 1.03 million inbound and outbound passenger trips during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, marking a yearly increase of 28.9 percent, said the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection on Wednesday.
Thanks to China's visa-free policies and facilitation measures for overseas visitors, more foreign travelers visited China during the holiday, which ran from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, to savor the flavors of the Chinese New Year.
According to official statistics, Shanghai saw 59,000 inbound trips made by foreigners during the holiday, up 30 percent from the 2024 Spring Festival holiday. Among them, 18,000 international travelers entered visa-free, accounting for 30.5 percent of the total.
Also, during the holiday, China recorded 14.37 million cross-border trips, an increase of 6.3 percent compared to last year. Additionally, China saw 958,000 cross-border trips made by foreigners during the holiday, up 22.9 percent from the previous year, as reported by the National Immigration Administration.
China continued easing its visa policies in 2024 to boost openness and people-to-people exchange, allowing more foreign travelers and business people to visit the country visa-free. Its latest move was an extension of its visa-free transit policy, which has permitted eligible foreign travelers to stay in the country for 240 hours without a visa.
Source: Xinhua
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