The port visa service in Shanghai has recently undergone optimization, simplifying the required documents for visa applications and allowing Chinese group travel agencies to act on behalf of applicants.

This reform has already shown positive results in the first half of this year, with about 43,000 group tourist visas issued, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the second half of last year, according to Wang Sheng, an official from the port visa section of the Exit-Entry Administration Bureau of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.