Economy and Business
Anhui's tourism gears up for the Expo
By Guo Changdong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-03 17:33
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The three-day Anhui Tourism and the Shanghai World Expo Forum opened on Tuesday in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui province.
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 The three-day Anhui Tourism and the Shanghai World Expo Forum opens on Tuesday in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui province. [ahlyj.gov.cn]
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The forum, hosted by the Anhui Tourism Bureau and the Hefei Municipal Government, attracted more than 1,000 participants from China and around the world.
Anhui, boasting its rich tourism resources, has 81 scenic spots rated 4-A, including Mount Huang, the World Heritage Site and Jiuhua Mountain, as well as five national historical cities, Hu said.
At the opening ceremony, Anhui and Shanghai signed an agreement to cooperate on tourism during the Shanghai World Expo.
More than 70 million visitors are expected to visit the Shanghai World Expo, including 3.5 million foreign visitors. One-third of Expo visitors will also visit neighboring provinces, according to the National Statistics Bureau.
The travel time from Hefei to Shanghai has been reduced to three hours with the operation of the Hefei-Ningbo Express Railway.
Three of Anhui’s tourist sites, Mount Huang, Huizhou Old City, and the Tunxi Old Street, had been listed by the Shanghai World Expo organizers on the 96 World Expo themed tourist sites in the Yangtze River Delta.
What opportunities the expo may offer Anhui’s tourism is the theme of the forum. Hu urged the province’s travel agencies to make preparations to develop the province’s tourism industry by taking advantage of the Expo.
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 Zhu Xianfa, vice director of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People’s Congress, attends the Anhui Tourism and the Shanghai World Expo Forum. [ahlyj.gov.cn]
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Five cities in Anhui -- Hefei, Chaohu, Liuan, Huainan, and Tongcheng -- also signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation on building the Hefei Tourism Economic Circle.
Zhu Xianfa, vice director of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People’s Congress, Hua Jianhui, vice governor of Anhui, and Zheng Mumin, vice president of the Anhui Provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference, were among the dignitaries attending the opening ceremony.
