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Shanghai targets 10 million visitors

By Zhong Xin (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-01 10:22

Having bypassed the 6 million mark for overseas tourists last year,Shanghaihas set its sights on attracting 10 million in 2010, when it will host the World Expo, officials at the municipal tourism administrative commission said.

No other city on the Chinese mainland, includingBeijing, has ever attracted 6 million overseas tourists in a single year, much less 10 million.

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And that's not the only challenge. Shanghai lacks both ancient relics like Beijing's Great Wall and spectacular natural scenery like the nature reserve of Jiuzhaigou.

When it reported that Shanghai had attracted a record number of overseas tourists last year, China Tourism News, a trade publication, attributed the city's success to its modern tourism facilities, which it had successfully used to host conferences and festivals.

The report also mentioned the city's general openness and the high quality of the services on offer there.

And the city's buildings are not without charm. Places like the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai Museum have become tourist attractions in their own right.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, for example, is second only to the Eiffel Tower in Paris in terms of the number of people who visit it each year and has become a symbol of Shanghai.