Hangzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province is providing all sorts of services to ease the travel of foreign visitors, in line with the country's 240-hour visa-free transit policy.
The Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport has set up an inquiry service post, where foreign travelers can ask about travel routes, buy SIM cards, book vehicles, and obtain an English-version tour map for free.
"I see all the information, all the required information is included, so it's good for the tourists who want to visit Hangzhou. Chinese service is the best in the world. One click to make the payment, so that kind of applications are using in China very well," said a foreign tourist.
Foreign travelers can also check in at hotels using their cellphones by binding their Alipay accounts with passport information in advance.
"Traditionally, hotels receiving foreigners need a document scanner for registration. Now, with one-tap check-in, the entire procedure can be streamlined, and the accuracy has also been significantly improved," said Ou Yiming, a local hotel manager.
It used to take several days for foreign travelers to go through tax refund procedures if they buy souvenirs or gifts. But now, the first intelligent departure tax refund self-service terminal has been put into use at the Xiaoshan airport, where foreigners can get the tax refund in their accounts after a scan of their payment code.
"In one or two seconds, the tax refund will get into your account. This machine works 24 hours a day. It's more convenient," said Fodil, another foreign traveler.
Int'l visitors welcome Hangzhou's measures aimed at making travel easier
Two roads leading to Medog County, nestled deep within the Himalayas of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, have fulfilled the long-held aspirations of its local community.
At a relatively low average elevation of 1,200 meters, Medog in the city of Nyingchi, was once the last county in China without permanent road access. The place has much more moisture in its air than other place in the region, fostering year-round frost, rain, snow and heavy fog.
Facing the tough geography and climate, China's outstanding engineers, however, build roads through mountains and bridges over rivers. They also bored a 3-kilometer-long tunnel facing the magnificent, snow-capped Galongla Mountain, and set up long sections of shed tunnels to shelter their road from frequent avalanches.
The Medog Highway, the first highway leading to Medog with a total length of 117 kilometers, opened to traffic in October 2013 after more than 50 years of sincere efforts, connecting the county with Zhamog Township of Bomi County in Nyingchi.
According to statistics, since its opening, the highway has endured 652 continuous heavy rainfalls, 265 heavy snowfalls, 258 slope and subgrade collapses, 394 mudslides and 71 avalanches. Therefore, efforts to upgrade the highway have never stopped over the past decade.
In October 2022, construction of a second highway was completed. The second passageway to Medog is a 67.22-km highway connecting Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County.
After the new highway was opened to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County was shortened to 180 kilometers from 346 kilometers, cutting travel time to four hours, and it only takes three hours to drive to Nyingchi Mainling Airport from Medog.
New roads leading to Medog realize Xizang's long-held dreams
