"144-hour transit visa-free" bonus continued to be released, and the number of foreigners coming to Shanghai increased.

Since the beginning of this year, the bonus of the 144-hour transit visa-free policy has been continuously released. By the end of August, the total number of inbound passengers at Shanghai port had reached 10.89 million, up 117% year-on-year, and the number of foreigners coming to Shanghai has steadily increased.

The reporter learned that in order to better attract foreign investment, optimize the foreign-related business environment, promote international cooperation and talent flow, and effectively open up the "small and micro-blocking points" for foreigners to work and live in Shanghai, this year Shanghai continued to launch a series of convenience measures to attract more foreigners to come to Shanghai, stay in Shanghai and integrate into Shanghai. Getting through the "last mile" of convenient payment In order to facilitate diversified payment needs, Shanghai launched the "Action Plan for Further Improving Payment Convenience" in April this year. According to statistics, in the first half of the year, various payment service providers in Shanghai provided more than 22 million payment services for foreigners coming to Shanghai, with a transaction amount of 7.8 billion yuan, up 7 times and 1.2 times respectively.

At present, 70,000 acceptance terminals in the city have supported foreign card payment, covering eight scenarios of "food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, medicine and learning". In the first half of the year, there were 750,000 foreign card cash withdrawals and foreign currency exchange businesses, amounting to nearly 2 billion yuan. Banks issued 630,000 "change wallets" for various market entities, effectively improving the convenience of cash use. There were nearly 19.5 million transactions involving 2.3 billion yuan in mobile payment services such as "binding foreign cards inside" and "outsourcing for internal use" in Shanghai, which increased by 11.3 times and 8.8 times respectively compared with the same period of last year. Promote the establishment of 348 key bank outlets in 16 banks in the city, publicize Chinese and English account opening service guides, and provide simple account opening services for foreigners coming to Shanghai, which significantly improves the efficiency of opening accounts and handling cards; Focus on the consumption scenes of foreigners in Shanghai, launch a series of videos of payment service guides, and broadcast publicity on major transportation hubs and inbound flights to further expand policy awareness. Helping "barrier-free" foreigners living in Shanghai to live in Shanghai involves many life scenes. In order to improve the level of foreign-related services in all aspects of each scene, Shanghai has made every effort to get through the difficult points in hotel check-in, medical treatment, scenic spot reservation, transportation and travel, and the use of commonly used apps.

For example, promote the city's hotels to fully open online booking and offline reception for foreign tourists, and guide small and medium-sized hotels to carry out accommodation registration; Research and launch a medical identity verification mechanism for foreigners, establish a data authentication interface, reduce the offline manual audit process, and encourage qualified medical institutions to vigorously develop international medical tourism; Promote the transformation of passport convenience application in cultural and tourist places in the city, and optimize the bilingual service of booking and ticketing interface. At present, most of the free A-level scenic spots do not need to make an appointment, and some cultural and tourist venues, such as Shanghai Museum, have further relaxed the appointment time limit for foreign tourists' travel habits and preferences; The English version of "Suishenxing" APP is launched, which can query the real-time traffic information of Shanghai subway, bus and ferry, and support multiple payment channels; Promote and encourage common life software development enterprises to further enhance the convenience of foreign users in downloading, registering and using mobile phone software, and continuously optimize bilingual interfaces and manual services. Realizing the "One Netcom" of Shanghai Information This year, the Shanghai Municipal Government launched the 9-language Shanghai International Service Portal, centering on the functional orientation of "welcome you and help you" and taking foreigners as the first perspective, to create a one-stop, multilingual, friendly interface and accurate demand positioning international service platform integrating "information release, service and consultation interaction".

In addition, it focuses on providing multilingual policy interpretations around important foreign-related policies such as "Shanghai Action Plan for Optimizing Business Environment Version 7.0" and "Implementation Plan for Further Optimizing Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing Attracting Foreign Investment" to help optimize the business environment. A multilingual Service Handbook for Foreigners in Shanghai was compiled, focusing on "Overview of Shanghai, Coming to Shanghai, Exploring Shanghai and Service Information", providing all kinds of practical information, which was continuously updated and iterated, and distributed at airport ports, hotels, A-level scenic spots and cultural tourism venues, helping foreigners to quickly understand and integrate into Shanghai and become their "second passport" for convenient life in Shanghai, which was widely praised. In the next step, Shanghai will continue to optimize and improve the service measures for foreigners, run the seventh China International Import Expo well, and accelerate the construction of a socialist modern international metropolis with world influence.