Search China Travel News:

Local travel buffs will be able to get a "close look" at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the German Black Forest or China's Xishuangbanna nature reserve without leaving Shanghai. The China International Travel Mart, which begins tomorrow at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong District, is a must not only for tourism fans, seeking more information about famous sights, but also tourism operators, looking for "business opportunities" abroad. But the four-day fair will be only open to the general public from noon on Saturda0y to noon Sunday. Exhibitors from 46 countries and regions will promote their scenic spots at 1,641 stalls covering 34,500 square meters - 503 booths have been taken up by overseas exhibitors. In addition to last year's participants, including Singa-pore, Japan, the United States, Germany and France, six more countries - India, Italy, Cro-atia, Mauritius, the Ukraine and Tunisia - will make their debut at the event. "The mart offers a platform for local tourism operators to expand business overseas," said Shi Tiehua, a Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission spokeswoman. Local tourism operators, including the commission, major travel service com-panies, hotels, and airlines, have registered for 130 stalls, the largest block of exhibitors. Relatedly, more than 1,300 overseas tourism operators will be invited for business discussion, and 38 illust-rations to promote tourism will be held by various organ-izations during the event. The mart is also generating a huge payoff for the local tourism industry. As an increasing number of exhibitors and visitors to the expo throng the city, local star hotels are reporting soaring occupancy rates, with some seeing full reservations. In fact, local tourism has become a growing contributor to the city's robust economic growth. Last year the number of overseas tourists to the city grew to 2.04 million from 1.43 million in 1996, and the number of domestic visitors reached 82 million last year, 17 million more than 1996. In the same period, tourism revenue jumped from 67.7 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion) to 95.6 billion yuan.