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Beijing, the city most badly hit by SARS, has drawn up plans to boost its embattled tourist industry by promoting new travel products and calling for co-operation with foreign cities. Yu Changjiang, director of the Beijing Tourism Bureau, yesterday said the city would invite tourism officials from other Asian cities to participate in a conference in July, during which the guests will discuss how to share tourist resources across different regions and how to work together to reinvigorate the industry. The bureau has also mapped out a comprehensive plan that aims to revive the once-burgeoning visits to Beijing by foreign tourists. The revival of consumer confidence in the context of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is the most important thing for tourism, said Yu. The planned measures include promoting some 30 new tourism products to foreign visitors, and inviting overseas media and tourism companies to Beijing to inspect the city's travel environment, said Gu Xiaoyuan, the bureau's vice-director. Overseas travel agencies that organize tour groups to Beijing after the World Health Organization travel warning against the city is lifted will receive "handsome rewards," said Gu. She said her bureau will target Japan and South Korea first to restore travel confidence because they are the major sources of foreign tourists to Beijing. SARS made Beijing tourism almost come to a complete halt after a long period of steady growth, with travel agencies running out of business and a hotel occupancy rate of less than 7 percent. The number of overseas tourists to Beijing is expected to slump by 44 percent this year compared with the 3.1 million foreign visitors last year, said Director Yu. He said potential problems hidden deep in the tourism industry were exposed thanks to SARS, including crisis management, risk alarm systems, and the maximization of benefit. Profound thinking on these questions will enable tour operators to face challenges with a more mature attitude as well as to provide good opportunities for the healthy growth of the industry, said Yu. In response to the costly adverse impact of SARS, the municipal government yesterday offered a further 6 billion yuan (US$726 million) in low-interest loans to companies and individuals in the hardest-hit industries, such as tourism and the hotel sector, said Beijing Vice-Mayor Sun Anmin. The loan, offered by the Beijing Commercial Bank and the China Everbright Bank, will reduce by 10 percent a year the interest payments to be paid by borrowers. Moreover, taxes and administrative fees levied by the Beijing government have been waived or reduced for the period between May 1 and September 30.