Shanghai Border Inspection has reported that its air, sea and cruise terminals handled 809,000 inbound and outbound travellers during the National Day break. Volume was up 3.4 percent on 2025 despite the holiday being one day shorter. Average daily throughput reached 116,000, with Pudong and Hongqiao airports accounting for 763,000 trips; cruise and ferry terminals processed the remaining 46,000. Foreign nationals constituted 89,000 of the total arrivals. Crucially for mobility planners, 50,000—almost 60 percent—entered via China’s 15-day and 30-day unilateral visa-waiver schemes or the 144/240-hour transit-visa-free programmes, confirming their popularity among business travellers who need speedier entry. The ongoing Rolex Shanghai Masters tennis tournament and multiple jewellery and semiconductor trade fairs boosted inbound corporate traffic. Local authorities opened 300 automated channels across the two airports, reducing average clearance time to 18 seconds for e-gate users. A multilingual “fast-track help desk” was piloted at Pudong Terminal 2 to resolve on-arrival work-permit queries for expatriate engineers supporting Formula E preparations. For HR teams relocating staff to Shanghai’s Free-Trade Zone, the data points to a tightening accommodation market around the Zhangjiang technology cluster. Serviced-apartment occupancy exceeded 92 percent during Golden Week; landlords are already quoting 10–15 percent higher monthly rates for Q4 move-ins. Shanghai’s immigration bureau said it will keep five extra counters open through 15 October to process residence-permit renewals for foreign employees who extended holiday stays.
