SHENZHEN is stepping up preparations for the APEC meetings across border clearance, public services and public participation, aiming to make travel and daily life more convenient for delegates and international visitors.

Ports speed up entry

The redeveloped Huanggang Port, China’s largest single port building and the world’s largest land port complex, officially opened for operations Oct. 12. The port implements the colocation arrangement and the novel “collaborative inspection and joint clearance” mode, offering round-the-clock clearance services for cross-border passengers and vehicles. On its first day of operation, the facility handled 79,500 passenger crossings.

Dedicated customs clearance lanes for APEC delegates have been set up at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport. The airport is also piloting an advance screening procedure that has cut passenger entry clearance time during peak periods from 45 minutes to under 15 minutes. Nearly 400 new signs in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and other languages have also been installed.

As of early September, the number of foreign passenger trips through the airport from APEC member economies this year had exceeded 1 million, a record for the same period. The airport operates more than 30 passenger routes to key APEC cities, with over 700 inbound and outbound flights scheduled each week.

Better services make city

more visitor-friendly

Shenzhen is continuing to improve services for international visitors, including foreign-language signage, transportation, payment and tax refunds. Effective Oct. 1, regulations on the standardized use and management of foreign-language public signs set out requirements for signage in eight categories of public places, helping create a more accessible language environment.

More than 7,000 smart translation devices have been deployed at bus and subway stations, government service halls, cultural venues and sports facilities across Shenzhen. Over 5,000 taxis are equipped with AI-powered devices that support real-time voice translation in more than 140 languages. English names are available at all 11,000 bus stops across the city, and passengers can scan QR codes on bus-stop signs to access route information in English and real-time arrival updates.

For payments, all 17 Metro lines and 432 stations in the city accept contactless payments with overseas bank cards. As of July, 41,000 merchants across the city accepted overseas bank cards, supported by 51,000 point-of-sale terminals. From January to August, foreign nationals made 143 million transactions in Shenzhen, totaling 21.09 billion yuan (US$3.15 billion), up 18.64% and 26.58% year on year, respectively.

Shenzhen is also expanding services such as departure tax refunds and currency exchange at its airport and in commercial districts. Hospitals, hotels, tourist attractions and legal service providers are working to improve their services for international visitors and clients.

Residents join

preparations

On Oct. 15, Shenzhen launched a green mobility initiative encouraging residents to reduce or suspend private car use during the APEC meeting week. Within three hours of the initiative’s launch, more than 20,000 car owners had registered to keep their vehicles off the road. By Oct. 26, the number had exceeded 546,000.

Fourteen local universities have established volunteer teams for APEC-related services. International volunteers are active in markets and communities, while student volunteers from Shenzhen Foreign Languages School have been helping foreign visitors navigate Shenzhen North Railway Station and answering their questions.

Freight drivers have formed a volunteer service team, while couriers and food delivery riders are attending classes to learn foreign languages and protocol for interacting with international visitors.

(People’s Daily)