Easy Go set to make life easier for foreigners

For international visitors finding it difficult to navigate Chinese apps, Shanghai is ready to help. Easy Go, an English-language one-stop program will debut on July 2, enabling access to various services such as catering, transport, travel and shopping, the city government's foreign affairs office announced on Thursday.

With more tourists traveling to China and making Shanghai their entry point, the platform is expected to streamline the digital experience for visitors exploring the city.

It will operate on China's popular online payment tool Alipay with about 30 commonly used apps and tools in a single interface, so expats can enjoy convenient services like a local.

With all these apps, people can take advantage of the local public transport systems, order takeout, buy tickets to scenic spots, exhibitions, concerts, sports events or films, shop on China's online and offline commerce platforms and even enjoy tax refund services.

Clarisse Le Guernic, a tour guide from France who contributed to the development of Easy Go, said many international tourists coming to Shanghai faced problems with payment, maps, car-hailing or food ordering.

"Many problems are linked with apps that they probably don't have," she said. "Having everything in just one app is super convenient because many foreign tourists coming to China tell me: 'Your apps in China, they look very good, very convenient, but they're so unfamiliar to us and we don't know where to go to download them, or which one to download to do this or that.'

"Easy Go is just a perfect solution, because all the problems I mentioned are solved in just one app, so we can use it to call a taxi, book a hotel, also to pay of course, to have some translation, to take a bike, anything you need when you come to visit or live in Shanghai."

There is also information about what's on in Shanghai. The 2025 "Shanghai Summer" International Consumption Season, a city-wide initiative, is set unfold from July to October, and Easy Go users can check it out when it comes online.