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China's hotel industry will gradually rid itself of the shadow of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the second half of 2003. Experts within the hotel industry from Beijing, Shanghai and GuangZhou spoke during a videoconference on Friday. Beijing's tourism suffered the worst blow due to SARS. Room reservation cancellations began in April, turned serious at the end of April, and reached a peak in the beginning of May. Reservation rates began to bounce back at the end of May, said Xu Jinzhi, general manager of Hong Kong and Macao Center Hotel. The number of SARS patients in Beijing has dropped significantly and the hotel industry will improve if the World Health Organization (WHO) lifts its travel ban on Beijing. Business people are expected to return sooner than tourists. The occupancy rate in Shanghai averaged 30 percent in April, but dropped to 15 percent in May. "The recovery will begin in June and improve in September or October", said Mark Decocinis, general manager with Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Guangdong's tourism revenue reduced 68 percent in April compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. But good news came when the WHO lifted its tourism warning on the area. Local government promoted measures to support tourism enterprises, including tax reductions and the provision of 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) aid for tourism enterprises, said Yang Xiaopeng, general manager of White Swan Hotel.