Neighboring cities cash in on Expo to boost tourism revenue

BEIJING - Shanghai's neighbors are vying for Expo Shanghai 2010 visitors to drop into their territory in a bid to boost local tourism.

Some 700 million tourists are expected to visit the Expo between May 1 and October 31, authorities have estimated.

And 36.6 percent of them are predicted to visit Shanghai's neighboring provinces, generating direct profit of about 11 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) and indirect tourism income of 80 billion yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.