DESTINATION


WORDS NICK EASON


As China’s first-ever free trade zone, Shanghai has been transformed into a tech-savvy, futuristic city, with new hotels and a wide choice of restaurants


N


OT SO LONG AGO, the arrivals hall in China’s airports involved mainly one word in English, “alien”, blazoned above the largely idle immigration line; that and myriad large-hatted, gruff Communist officials, stern-faced and barking Mandarin com- mands. Oh, how things have changed. The first thing now greeting you at Pudong International airport is a talking electronic kiosk asking for a passport scan in different languages; and helpful bilin- gual staff politely directing the foreigner queue packed with Koreans, Japanese, Europeans and North Americans. After an effortless move through immigration you’re offered mobile and data SIM cards; Shanghai is oh so open for business. Then again, it’s been almost a decade since the city hosted the World Expo, when 70-plus million people descended on China’s key investment hub; they’ve not stopped coming since. It’s now a key economic powerhouse.


Compared to other parts of China, Shanghai has been one of the biggest recipients of foreign investment over the past few decades. It’s also the country’s first-ever free trade zone. Travel buyers should certainly expect more activity here in the coming years. The city is pro-global enterprise and has put in place 100 measures aimed at opening


350,000 new companies were


registered in 2017 (8,000 funded from overseas)


Shanghai’s economy is growing at


7% per year


up the economy in sectors as diverse as financial services, industry, intellec- tual property rights protection and imports. In addi- tion, Shanghai acts as a major gateway to the thriving regions along the Yangtze river.


“China is striving to move up the value chain, to avoid being pinched at one end by lower cost countries and at the other end by higher quality manufacturers and producers of goods around the world,” explains David Martin, director at the China-Britain Business Council. “The UK is already a world leader in many relevant fields and there will be a wide range of new opportunities, including high-end equipment supplies, technical and management consultancy services, standards, testing, compliance and certification, joint R&D, financing and investment, outbound investment, finan- cial services, design, education and skills training,” he says.


The city of 24 million may represent “East meets West” opportunities, but it seems more like “East takes West”. The price of just about everything is high


I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THE ROBOT MAGIC RESTAURANT, WHILE ROBOTS SERVE YOU IN THE ZHIDA BOOKSHOP


140 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 buyingbusinesstravel.com


SHANGHAI


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