Visa-free program popular

More than 15,200 foreign travelers have taken advantage of a program that allowed them to stay in the city for 72 hours without a visa while in transit, the Shanghai Airport Frontier Inspection Station said in a press release Tuesday.

The program began on January 1, 2013. About 2,000 travelers applied for the program in its first three months. Some 3,800 applied in the second quarter.

About 2,300 travelers from the US applied for the program, the most of any country, followed by 2,000 travelers from Australia and 1,700 travelers from Germany.