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Three million overseas visitors and 95 million domestic tourists are expected to visit Shanghai this year, pumping an estimated 121.3 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion) into the city's coffers, the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission announced recently.

This is an increase of 10 percent from last year, the administration said in announcing a three-year plan to boost the local tourism sector.

For 2003, the starting year of the blueprint, a series of programs will be put into place to lure more visitors from out of the town and create entertainment venues for local residents to attend.

In addition to the annual Shanghai Tourism Festival scheduled to start on September 13, more programs will debut this year.

A Shanghai Delicious Food Tour will be introduced, giving residents a chance to learn how to cook famous local dishes.

Tours by water will be another selling point. The city will start building a tour center on the Dianshan Lake and districts will define locations of water tour centers.

Meanwhile, the commission will promote the city at home and abroad.

It will cooperate with neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to jointly develop tourism at the Yangtze River Delta and join hands with inland provinces such as Yunnan to explore marketing in neighboring countries, including Russia, India and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, new offices to promote local tourism will be established in Russia, Japan and South Korea.

"Winning the bid for World Expo 2010 will fuel the development of local tourism and we encourage foreign investment in our tourism sector," said Yao Mingbao, the commission director.

Local residents also have a wider choice of overseas destinations.

The city's first group tour to Germany, costing 9,999 yuan each, will depart on March 4. Local travel agencies are allowed to organize group tours to South Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Maldives from April 1.