THE number of passengers using Shanghai as the gateway to coming into or leaving China reached a new high at 42.42 million last year, up 12.9 percent from 2015.

Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection said that during 2015, only 26 days saw more than 100,000 passengers passing through Shanghai ports, while last year local immigration inspection stations experienced 144 such days, most of them during holiday periods.

Foreign passengers have taken advantage of the 144-hour, visa-free policy introduced on January 30, and numbered over 35,000 in Shanghai — 90 percent higher than the number of foreigners using the 72-hour, visa-free policy in 2015.