Shanghai World Expo to take in more than 80 billion yuan

The total number of visitors touring the Shanghai World Expo Park has reached up to more than 71. 4 million as of today, and the World Expo in Shanghai also hit a record high with nearly 400,000 visitors every day and a peak visiting day of 1.03 million tourists.

Shao Qiwei, head of the National Tourism Administration (CNTA), said China has achieved bidding commitments by the most extensive participation.

The Shanghai World Expo has achieved more than 70 million visitors, of which, there were more than 3.5 million overseas visitors.

"The expo promoted a rebound of China's overseas tourism market and effectively demonstrated China’s open and friendly image," Shao said.

According to data from the CNTA, China has organized around 10,000 expo promotional activities across the world, mobilizing more than 2,000 major domestic and overseas media to report. As of Oct. 20, the number of news articles and promotional tourism items about the Shanghai Expo has reached more than 19.3 million across the world, setting off a Shanghai Expo tourism boom in major international markets.

Shao said thanks to the Expo tourism promotion, the number of inbound visitors nationwide has reached around 99. 8 million in the first nine months, representing a 6.2 percent increase. The number of overnights inbound visitors has reached up to about 41.6 million, accounting for a 10.7 percent growth. And the inbound foreign exchange earnings attained 33.7 billion U.S. dollars, representing an increase of 15.8 percent.

It was reported that as of Oct. 24, there were around 20.5 million domestic visitors in 667,000 tours nationwide, of which, Shanghai local travel teams accounted for 53 percent of the total, while travel teams from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces took up 9.8 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. Tourism sectors in all parts of the country have played a key role in ensuring tourists' safety and improving their satisfaction during their expo trip.

According to data from the China Tourism Academy, the Shanghai World Expo will bring more than 80 billion yuan direct tourism income to stimulate tourism-related industries in the Yangtze River Delta.

In addition, the number of tourists and tourism earnings of adjacent major cities during the World Expo grew dramatically, which spurred a more than 20 percent increase in tourism-related industries, including traffic roads, railways, air traffic, accommodations and catering.

Shao said the Shanghai World Expo has kept operations smooth and tourists safe with no major accidents, which is quite remarkable, given the long-term and high-density tourist flow.

By Li Mu, People's Daily Online