Have you ever set foot on the Bund, Yu Garden or Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in the past year? If you have ever walked around these Shanghai landmarks, you may have noticed an obvious phenomenon: there are more and more foreign tourists on the streets of Shanghai. They speak English, German, Spanish or other languages. When describing Shanghai, the high-frequency words are always “ clean, safe and citizen-friendly “.

China’s ever-accelerating high-level opening up has brought a steady stream of inbound tourists to port cities including Shanghai. Since China announced the unilateral visa-free trial for six countries including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia on November 24 last year , the scope of visa-free countries has been expanded to 38 countries. For Shanghai, which is committed to becoming the “first stop for inbound tourism in China”, this is a year in which inbound tourism is accelerating.

A busier cruise port

In the early morning of April 6 this year , the cruise ship “Mehiv No. 5” slowly docked at Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Port after a long journey. More than 2,500 overseas tourists arrived in droves. Taking this cruise ship, Mike Scarpa from Germany visited China for the third time.

In 1999 and 2010 , Mike took flights to travel to China. Different from the previous two times, this time he brought his wife and children with him, especially hoping that his 12- year-old son could experience the diverse charms of China and Shanghai in person. Mike lamented: ” When I first came to Shanghai, bicycles shuttled through the streets and alleys; when I visited the second time, there were more cars on the road. Now, there are many high-rise buildings here and the buildings are more densely packed. “

 

During the two days that the “Mehif 5” stayed in Shanghai, more than 3,600 tourists disembarked for a tour. This was the largest inbound group welcomed in the country after the restart of inbound tourism. When the first batch of tourists disembarked, staff from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism presented them with “a bag of Shanghai” cultural and creative gifts, including Rongqingtang sachets from the Shanghai intangible cultural heritage protection project, Xiaolongbao refrigerator magnets and Shanghai tourist maps. The themed promotional leaflet brings the first greetings from China and Shanghai to overseas tourists.

In order to make it more convenient for inbound tourists to travel, a number of financial institutions have also set up booths on site to provide tourists with services such as foreign currency exchange and change to facilitate tourists’ domestic payments.

Since then, the inbound tourism market has accelerated its recovery, and cruise ports have continued to be busy. Shanghai, which has two major cruise ports, Wusongkou International Cruise Port and Shanghai Port International Passenger Transport Center, has become the first stop for many international tourists visiting China. After the “Meshif 5” successfully docked at the port, a series of overseas cruise ships such as the “Silver Shadow” followed one after another, transporting thousands of overseas tourists to Shanghai.

The influx of these tourists has directly promoted consumption in many areas such as urban catering, accommodation and entertainment. Shanghai’s unique modern and diverse urban appearance also attracts more overseas tourists to become fans of Chinese culture.

a more open city

Pudong Airport also plays an important role in the recovery of the inbound tourism market. On the eve of May Day this year , an innovative initiative of ” free half-day inbound tour ” was launched here, aiming to attract more transit international passengers to appreciate the unique style of Shanghai and China , and to introduce batches of “new faces” to Shanghai for inbound tourism .

At the end of April , Russian tourists Artemi and his wife Anna flew from the Philippines to Shanghai for a connecting flight before returning to Russia at the next stop. Taking advantage of the ” Free Half-Day Tour to Entry ” project, they strolled along the Bund, visited Yu Garden, and tasted Nanxiang steamed dumplings in Shanghai . The city trip of just a few hours planted the seed of ” China travel ” for Artemi: ” Shanghai is very big and beautiful, and there are so many high-rise buildings. I will consider traveling to China in depth again. “

Across Shanghai, a series of measures to facilitate inbound tourism have been introduced to provide high-quality services for inbound tourists in terms of “food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment”. The city’s core business districts, airport terminals, subway stations, three-star or above hotels, 3A- level and above scenic spots have basically achieved full coverage of wild card POS machines, with a total number of up to 80,000 , making it convenient for foreign tourists to shop and consume; the city’s A- level tourist attractions and more than 3,000 cultural and tourism venues such as art galleries, museums, and libraries have fully implemented in-store visits. , no reservations are required for admission to the park, allowing tourists at home and abroad to travel unimpeded; all accommodation resources in Shanghai, including star hotels, boutique hotels, specialty B&Bs, etc., are open to inbound tourists, providing tourists with a richer range of accommodation options.

With the integration of culture and tourism as the main line, Shanghai’s inbound tourism products have also continued to innovate and upgrade in the past year. In addition to the “three-piece suite” of the Bund, Nanjing Road, and Yuyuan Garden , inbound tourists walked into Shanghai’s residential areas, experienced market fireworks and tasted authentic food at street markets. At the Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai Grand Theater and Shanghai Museum, a variety of performances and exhibitions allow inbound tourists to fully appreciate the multi-faceted charm of the Magic City.

A more real China

 

China’s high-level opening up continues to strengthen. At present, China’s 72/144- hour transit visa-free policy has been applied to 54 countries around the world. Since last year, there have been 38 new visa-free countries . The open and inclusive atmosphere has attracted foreign tourists from all over the world to come and experience it, which provides a good foundation for the whole year. The economy continues to be infused with vitality.

Last month, China successively granted visa exemptions to holders of ordinary passports from 18 countries including Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, South Korea, and Japan, and extended the visa-free stay period from the previous 15 days to 30 days, which has a significant effect on promoting inbound tourism. .

On the first day of China’s trial visa-free policy for Japan, Ms. Yukawa from Tokyo, Japan, took the earliest flight of the day and landed in Shanghai, starting a seven-day city trip. She said: “The visa-free policy is great. It will be more convenient to travel to China for tourism and business trips in the future.” Benefiting from the visa-free convenience, she is a skier and is planning to go skiing in Northeast China in December.

Ctrip data shows that since China implemented the unilateral visa-free policy for South Korea on November 8 , inbound travel orders from South Korean tourists have increased by approximately 15% month-on-month and over 150% year-on-year . Among the popular cities for Korean tourists entering China , Shanghai ranks first and has a high growth rate. Recently, orders from Korean inbound tourists in Shanghai have increased by more than 180% year- on-year and by more than 40% month-on-month. “Come to China after work on Friday” has become a popular term in the Korean tourism market.

Overseas tourists are entering Shanghai one after another, indicating that Shanghai is making steady progress with the goal of building a high-level “China’s first stop for inbound tourism”. Across the country, cities such as Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Zhangjiajie, and Hangzhou are also attracting more and more inbound tourists to explore.

As Debo Jian, an American exhibitor from New York who just participated in the China International Travel Fair recently said, China is an ancient civilization with rich natural scenery and historical and cultural resources. As long as we work hard to promote it, it will have great prospects. More importantly, as long as foreign tourists come to China, they will find that the real China is completely different from the China they knew from the media: “As long as these tourists have been here, almost no one will say something bad about China after returning.”

In the coming year, we look forward to more overseas guests and friends coming to China to see and believe, leaving behind wonderful memories while also spreading the Chinese people’s warm and hospitable culture further and wider.

 

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