Shanghai sees travel surge during National Day holiday

Nearly 1 million cross-border trips were made through Shanghai's ports during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, up 17.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection.

Of the 978,000 trips, about 316,000 were Chinese mainland passengers traveling overseas. The top five destinations were Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore.

Inbound travel also saw robust growth, buoyed by China's expanding visa-free policies and streamlined entry measures for foreign visitors.

Between Oct 1 and 8, Shanghai ports processed 103,000 foreign arrivals, up 31.8 percent year-on-year, with tourists and business travelers making up nearly 70 percent of the total.

The top source countries were South Korea, Japan, the United States, Russia, and Germany.

More than 55,000 foreign travelers entered visa-free or under the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, accounting for nearly 54 percent of all inbound foreign travelers.

To further enhance travel convenience and support inbound tourism, the Pudong and Hongqiao airports set up a multilingual volunteer team, providing assistance in English, French, German, Japanese, and other languages.

The volunteers help foreign visitors with translation, general guidance, and digital services — including downloading and using payment and ride-hailing apps, connecting to airport Wifi, and navigating to their destinations.

The two airports handled a total of 19,000 flights during the holiday period — 13,000 at Pudong and 6,000 at Hongqiao — averaging 2,448 flights per day, up 6 percent year-on-year, according to Shanghai Airport (Group) Co Ltd.

Passenger throughput reached 3.3 million, including 2.1 million at Pudong and 1.2 million at Hongqiao, with an average of 406,000 trips per day, a record high for the National Day holiday period and a 9.3 percent year-on-year increase.