The scheduled visit of naval fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to Hong Kong from July 3 to 7 has sparked a craze among local people, as the tickets for the weekend tour of the Flagship Shandong were booked out within one minute after the online visit reservation system opened on Monday.
The tickets for the Zhanjiang missile destroyer and the Yuncheng missile frigate were also booked out in minutes.
From June 30 to July 7, the booking system opens at 10:00, 15:00 and 20:00 every day, with a total of 10,000 tickets to the vessels to be issued for visitors -- 2,000 for the Shandong aircraft carrier and 8,000 for the Zhanjiang and Yuncheng vessels.
A series of cultural events will be hosted on board when the fleet opens to the public, aiming to offer Hong Kong compatriots a more direct and in-depth understanding of China's advancements in national defense and military development in the new era.
Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, vessels of the PLA Navy have paid eight visits to the city in various forms. The first visit occurred in 2001, while the two most recent took place in 2024.
PLA naval fleet visit sparks rush for tickets in HK
PLA naval fleet visit sparks rush for tickets in HK
Shanghai welcomed two more cruise ships on Sunday, lifting the total at Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal to three, as inbound tourism booms under China's new visa-free and travel facilitation measures.
The newly arrived ships, MSC Magnifica and Adora Magic City, joined Mein Schiff 6, which had docked a day earlier at the Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal.
During the weekend, cruise ports in Shanghai handled over 20,000 inbound and outbound passengers, with foreign nationals accounting for more than half of the total.
"Immigration service, very good, very fast. Everything very quick," said a Russian tourist.
"We going to Disneyland, it's a cool trip," said another Russian tourist.
China’s expanded visa-free entry is reshaping inbound travel. Since February, ordinary passport holders from Canada and the UK have been exempted, and arrivals from both countries have climbed sharply.
"Very good, excellent policy and anything that reduces the amount of time. We had ten days in China already," said a Canadian tourist.
Shanghai’s ports have already processed more than 10 million passenger trips this year, up 2.9 percent from 2025, underscoring sustained growth in cross-border movement. China now offers unilateral visa exemption to 50 countries, mutual visa-free access with 29, and 240-hour transit privileges to travelers from 55 nations, a policy framework that is reshaping inbound tourism at scale.
Shanghai sees surge in cruise tourism as visa policies boost inbound travel
