Sightseers cruising on the Yangtze River to admire the gigantic Three Gorges Dam will have to transfer to buses to bypass the world's largest hydroelectric project since this week.

After the construction of a series of locks at the dam begins on Friday, most vessels will not be allowed to pass through the dam, local officials said on Tuesday.

Tourism officials, however, expect that the construction, scheduled to last for about a year, will not dampen tourists.

Buses will take tourists to docks on the upper or lower reaches of the dam, where they can restart their cruising on the river, said Li Zhenyong, director of the tourists service center of Yichang in central China's Hubei Province, dam site of water-control project.

"Tourists will have to enjoy the scenes of the Three Gorges Dam, the Gezhouba Dam and part of the Xiling Gorge between the two dams on bus, but for a major part of the beautiful landscape in the Three Gorges area, sightseers can still enjoy them by water," Li said.

Li assured that the transfer will not lead to a hike of the price for tourism programs.

Local tourism authorities have put into operation of nearly 200 buses to transfer tourists.

Li told Xinhua that the number of tourists to the area is expected to reach 700,000 to 800,000 by the end of this year, 20 percent more than last year.

The number is expected to top 900,000 in 2007, keeping an increase rate of 20 percent, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2006)