Chinese tourism records broken in Shanghai

CGTN Europe

Nearly 5,000 overseas tourists entered China through Shanghai's main Cruise Terminal on Sunday, breaking a new record.  It follows Beijing's efforts to attract more international travellers through measures like visa-free travel. CGTN correspondent Wu Bin reports.

Transcript

00:00A ceremony featuring dragon and lion dances to welcome the German cruise ship Aida Stella's

00:09first arrival at Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Terminal on Sunday.

00:15The ship brings almost 2,200 overseas visitors to China.

00:20The spectrum of the seas operated by Royal Caribbean International also docks at the

00:25terminal with 2,600 passengers on board.

00:30Combined they bring in around 4,800 foreign visitors, breaking the record for arrivals

00:35to China via the terminal in a single day.

00:47According to local immigration officials, nearly a third of the arriving visitors applied

00:52for 240-hour visa-free transit, and around 60 percent are entering China under the unilateral

00:59visa-free policy.

01:00And I have to say that the visa-free policy is what makes travel easy and fast.

01:08And especially our passengers, they like to explore the country, they like to get to know

01:13everyone and the culture, so they will all be ready on the gangway in the morning and

01:19it's very easy if we don't have to apply for a visa.

01:23Chinese films are also attracting international visitors to Shanghai.

01:28So I think really everybody already, not only because of movies, already just because of

01:32the history of China, everybody wanted to see.

01:35Very excited when we have more Asian or especially Chinese films in Germany.

01:41Shanghai is one of the major ports through which international travelers enter China.

01:46The arrivals flowing over into neighboring provinces.

01:50I was curious about the Chinese culture and I wanted to know how people live their life

01:56over the years and I'm really happy to be here.

02:01China's visa exemption policy was launched in December 2023 and extended several times

02:06since.

02:07Now, it allows passport holders from 38 countries to visit China for up to 30 days without a

02:12visa.

02:13In 2024, more than 20 million inbound foreign trips to China were made visa-free, more than

02:19double the previous year's number.

02:21Wu Bin, CGTN, Shanghai.

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