Fourteen Agencies Designated For World Expo Tour

The second batch of 14 designated travel agencies for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo was unveiled in Kunming, bringing the total number of member agencies athourized to operate World Expo tours to 38.

Five of the agencies are in Shanghai, and these are: Shanghai Buyecheng International Travel Service Company, Shanghai Modern Travel Agency, Shanghai Ctrip International Travel Service Company, Yangpu Xiuyang Travel Service Company, and Shanghai CYTS Tours Corporation. To date, Shanghai has designated 10 agencies for World Expo tours.

The other nine travel agencies are: Tianjin Comfort Travel Service, Guangdong International Travel Service, Hubei Yangtze International Travel Service, Hebei Comfort International Travel Service, Shandong Tourism Company, Sichuan Company International Travel Service, Liaoning Comfort International Travel Service, Hunan Huatian International Travel Service, and Xinjiang Baijia Tourism Company.

Chen Xianjin, the deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said 25% to 30% of the 70 million visits to the Expo will be in tour groups organized by travel agencies, which will bring great opportunities to the tourism industry in Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta, and even the whole country. At the China International Travel Mart press conference CNTA announced that 2010 will be World Expo Tour Year.