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Austrian Airlines Group announced it would include Shanghai in its flight service network beginning from April 29 with the operation of three flights a week from Pudong International Airport to Vienna.

In the meantime, the number of flights from Vienna to Beijing will also be increased from four to six this summer, said Josef E. Burger, chief commercial officer of the Austrian Airlines Group, who made the announcement in Shanghai on Tuesday.

According to Burger, 120,000 tourists from China visited Austria last year. "The figure is expected to rise 20 percent annually with the opening of the European tourism market to China," said Burger. "I believe scheduled flights to China will be very important to our long-distance flight service network."

In accordance with an MOU signed by the China National Tourism Administration and the European Union on Feb. 15, Chinese tourists may apply for a special tourist visa known as ADS via designated travel agencies and will be allowed to travel freely within 12 nations in Europe if they are granted the visa. The agreement will come into effect on May 1.

The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will be the fourth largest source of tourists in the world by 2020, and the number of people traveling overseas will reach 100 million by then.

Chinese tourists made 20.22 million journeys overseas last year, up 20 percent from 2002, said statistics provided by tourism administrative departments of China.

Before the Austrian Airlines Group, other European airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa also decided to launch or add flights to cater to the craze for tourism to Europe in China.