The cumulative number of inbound tourists to Shanghai reached more than 4.6 million people from January to July, an increase of nearly 34 percent compared with the previous year, according to a press conference held by the Shanghai municipal government on Sept. 15. The room occupancy rate of star-grade hotels in Shanghai reached 80 percent since the Shanghai World Expowas opened.

Overnight visitors to Shanghai increased nearly 39 percent

The cumulative number of overnight inbound tourists to Shanghai reached more than 4 million from January to July, an increase of nearly 39 percent compared with the previous year, according to Cheng Meihong, deputy director of the Shanghai Tourism Bureau.

In addition, the sample survey conducted by CVSC-TNS Research shows that more than 56 percent of overnight inbound tourists to Shanghai visited the Shanghai World Expo Park more than once, including nearly 45 percent of tourists from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan region, Japan and South Korea. More than 19 percent of those tourists are from the United States, Britain, Germany and France, and more than 36 percent of them come from Australia and other countries.

In addition, 55 travel routes of the Yangtze River Delta "World Expo Tour," and 96 demonstration points of the "Experience Tourism in the Theme of the World Expo" released during the Shanghai World Expo are also very popular among tourists. They also played a relatively greater leading role towards the tourism of Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Huangshan Mountain and Mount Putuo.

The room occupancy rate of star-grade hotels reached 80 percent.

Since the opening of the Shanghai World Expo, according to the actual demand of passenger flow, the whole reception capability of the tourism industry in Shanghai has been further strengthened by rationally allocating existing resources of the lodging industry.

At present, the overall tourist lodging industry in Shanghai is smooth and orderly. Data shows that the average room occupancy rate of star-grade hotels in Shanghai has reached 80 percent between May 1 and Aug. 20 in 2010, up 30 percent from the same period last year.

According to sources, with the opening of the Shanghai Expo Park, the tourism industry in Shanghai is faced with no small pressure in terms of providing accommodations. The Shanghai Tourist Administration had signed an agreement with surrounding cities that are about 1.5 hours' drive from Shanghai, including Suzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Huzhou, to rationally use the 249,000 beds in those cities and realize the unified use of lodging resources. In addition, 500 "Expo Families" and 200 "Expo Farm Houses" also began receiving visitors.

Shanghai Tourism Bureau disclosed that in addition to star-grade hotels, the average occupancy rate of other hotels in Shanghai is 82 percent, up 25 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.