In the first 11 months of 2024, more than 4 million foreigners entered China through Shanghai's ports, doubling the figure from the same period last year, according to the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection.

Shanghai ranked first among airports in China for inbound foreign travelers.

More than 1.37 million foreigners entered China visa-free, with 40,000 taking advantage of the 144-hour visa-free transit policy.

That represented year-on-year increases of 3.8 times and 1.4 times respectively.

The top five countries of origin for visa-free entries were Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Germany and France.

According to the Pujiang Border Inspection Station, under the Shanghai General Border Inspection Station, over 34,000 foreign passengers entered China through the Shanghai International Cruise Terminal in the first 11 months.

Among them, 24,200 entered under visa-free policies, including 14,500 using unilateral or reciprocal visa exemption policies.

More than 4,300 utilized the 24-hour or 144-hour visa-free transit policy and over 5,400 passengers entered under the 15-day visa-free policy for cruise ship travelers.

These groups accounted for 59.9 percent, 17.8 percent and 22.3 percent of the total respectively.

On Nov 30, China officially introduced a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from nine additional countries, bringing the total number of eligible nations to 38.

The country has established full mutual visa exemption agreements with 25 countries and has signed mutual visa exemption agreements with 157 countries and regions, covering various types of passports.

Source: thepaper.cn