Tourists Alfredo Cimmino (L) and Giulio Bartoli from Italy take a selfie with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower at the Bund area in Shanghai, east China, July 18, 2025. Thanks to China's visa-free policies and related measures, the popularity of both travel and shopping in China among foreigners has risen, serving as a boost to the country's tourism development. Foreign nationals made a total of 38.05 million trips to or from China in the first six months of the year, which was an increase of 30.2 percent year on year, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on July 16. Of these trips, 13.64 million were visa-free entries, an increase of 53.9 percent from the same period last year, the NIA said. Shanghai has seen a surge in inbound tourism in summer travel season this year since July 1. The city recorded 187 thousands inbound tourist trips during July 1 to July 15, a 35.5 percent increase from the previous year. Among them, 92 thousands visits were visa-free entries, accounting for nearly 50 percent οf the total number οf inbound foreign travelers. [Xinhua/Chen Haoming] | 