A pair of British travel vloggers have shared their story of traveling in Shanghai, highlighting the convenience and warmth they experienced as China continues to improve services for inbound tourists.
The couple, known online as Netty and Si, visited Shanghai recently and experienced a range of convenient services covering payment, translation, transportation and tour guidance.
Their trip came as China's inbound tourism continues to boom.
As visa-free entry policies continue to improve and institutional benefits such as departure tax refunds and easier payment options are further unleashed, "China travel" and "China shopping" remain increasingly popular.
Beyond the infrastructure and digital services, what left a deep impression on the two vloggers was the warmth and helpfulness of local people they met along the way.
"And one of the things that's really striking is how helpful and friendly people are. They are so friendly. They'll get the translate [app] out and try and help you. When we got there, we had a lovely meal," they said.
They met their tour guide who introduced them to local dishes such as zongzi and Kung Pao chicken over a meal.
The two also highlighted how mobile payment tools made getting around the city easier, even for first-time visitors unfamiliar with the local systems. "Another thing you can do, if you don't want to use a ticket machine, you can actually set up Alipay to give you a QR code which you can just scan on a sort of a barcode reader as you go through the turnstiles. There are some new instructions by most machines. Obviously if you use your translate apps to translate the instructions, you can do that," said Si.
Reflecting on their trip, they said the city had left them with lasting memories, and encouraged other travelers not to hesitate to visit.
"So very, very exciting. But Shanghai, brilliant. Brilliant. We've made so many memories. People are so kind and helpful, aren't they? It's a lovely city. Really nice, highly recommend it. Definitely thinking about coming here then, do it, do it! Don't hesitate, do it," said the two vloggers.
In the first eight months of this year, visa-free entries by foreign nationals reached 23.72 million, up 26.8 percent year on year.
Driven by inbound tourism, China's travel service exports reached 263.61 billion yuan (about 39 billion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months, up 27.7 percent year on year, according to data released by Ministry of Commerce. To make travel easier for overseas visitors, relevant authorities have continued to improve comprehensive support services for inbound tourism.
British vloggers praise travel convenience in Shanghai
