China News Service, Hangzhou, September 5 (Bao Mengni) On September 5, as one of the first batch of cities in the country's "Special Action to Improve the Convenience of Digital Entry Services for Overseas Persons in Cities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Special Action"), Hangzhou focused on demonstrating the phased results of digital entry services at the opening ceremony of the 9th Hangzhou International Day, promoting a number of unique application scenarios to be implemented in Hangzhou.
It is reported that Hangzhou is a popular destination for international exchanges. Major foreign-related events are intensively held, and the inbound passenger flow has achieved steady growth. From January to August 2026, more than 300,000 foreign tourists entered Hangzhou Port, a year-on-year increase of more than 13%, and visa-free entry foreign tourists exceeded 160,000, a year-on-year increase of more than 22%. Among them, a total of 1.077 million overnight tourists entered Hangzhou from January to July, a year-on-year increase of 50.1%.
Hangzhou’s digital foreign-related services are the solid support behind this advancement. Since the "AI Hangzhou" comprehensive foreign-related service platform was launched on the "Hangzhou International Day" in 2024, the city has coordinated the resources of the Foreign Affairs Office, the Cyberspace Administration of China, public security, cultural tourism, commerce, transportation, finance, taxation and other departments, and relied on the "AI Hangzhou" foreign-related service system to implement a number of iconic convenience scenes. From the one-stop comprehensive service of the airport international service center to the "Hang Xiaoyi" intelligent multi-lingual escort; from the "one-stop and three-way" luggage transportation to the "one-touch check-in" convenient registration at the hotel; from the payment service "pay all the way" to the "one-click tax refund" for departure tax refund, digital reform continues to optimize Overseas people come to Hangzhou for work and play experience, which strongly stimulates inbound consumption. From January to July, international tourism (foreign exchange) income reached US$1,104.602 million, a year-on-year increase of 57.8%. The departure tax refund amount verified by the airport customs exceeded 111 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.27%.
On this basis, Hangzhou launched two innovative and convenient services from March to May this year. The "Immigration Certificate Replacement, Car Rental and Self-Driving" program allows inbound passengers to redeem a temporary driving permit and handle car rental business upon landing at the airport. Passengers from 12 countries (regions) have used this service to experience the scenery of Zhejiang, and it has collaborated with local car companies to continue to expand new channels for "helping companies go overseas". The "Customs Entry Physical Examination" has launched online appointment and report inquiry functions, and is the first in the country to launch more than 8,000 electronic physical examination record verification certificates, enabling fingertip processing of employment and residence-related businesses, greatly reducing service time.
Since the launch of the "Special Action", version 2.0 of the departure tax refund policy was launched in Hangzhou in July. Many foreign passengers were the first to experience the new speed of "silky tax refund" brought about by "small-amount random inspections" and "paperless processing" at Hangzhou Airport. At the same time, Hangzhou also builds on local science and technology innovation resources to create exciting and rich "tech research inbound tourism" products to fully meet the customized needs of overseas tourists visiting science and technology innovation scenes such as artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing.
