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High hopes for Expo tourism

By Xu Wenwen | June 24, 2010, Thursday | Print Edition

HANGZHOU expects a big bounce in tourism from the six-month World Expo in neighboring Shanghai, and the tourism commission hopes to grab 10 million Expo visitors. But it's still early days. Xu Wenwen reports.

World Expos over the years have boosted the economies of host cities and neighboring regions, and officials in Hangzhou expect the same benefits from the World Expo Shanghai, just 200 kilometers away.

The Osaka Expo in 1970, for example, promoted the formation of Japan's economic circles of cities along its Pacific Coast.

So how much might the World Expo Shanghai, where around 70 million visitors are expected, impact Hangzhou and the Yangtze River Delta?

According to recent data and anecdotal information, Hangzhou has already benefited somewhat in tourism and catering, though many visitors don't stay overnight and big hotel business has yet to take off.

So far it's a tourism boomlet, not a boom. Ctrip.com surveyed popular tourist destinations during the Dragon Boat Festival last week and found that Shanghai topped the list, followed by Hangzhou, surpassing Beijing for the first time. During May the top three destinations were Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou.

In the past month, more visitors have visited West Lake than in previous Mays.

"Though the weather has varied, the business of boating on West Lake has kept moving along since World Expo 2010 started on May 1," says a boat woman surnamed Lu.

"The number of visitors from Shanghai and abroad are around 20 percent higher than in previous years," she adds.

Restaurants benefit as well.

"Since the Expo began, we cook 560 to 600 Xihu Cu Yu or West Lake Sweet and Sour Fish (a famous Hangzhou dish) every day, 10 percent more than couple of months ago," says Hui Yue, deputy manager of Lou Wai Lou Restaurant, a legendary restaurant in Hangzhou.

But so far hotel business has not spiked; occupancy has risen only slightly. Hotels mostly booked by tour groups say the stays are short.

There are two reasons, according to analysts in the marketing department of the China Travel Service Zhejiang Agency, one of the two designated agencies for Expo tourism.

First, many tour groups to east China during the Expo prefer to spend more time in Shanghai than Hangzhou because of the Expo; and second, the cost of east China air tickets and hotel accommodation during the Expo has risen, so some visitors look elsewhere.

The number of individual Expo travelers is low so far.

"The biggest change in Hangzhou tourism, compared with last year, is the decrease in individual travelers to Hangzhou and other adjacent cities," says Wang Yinbiao, assistant general manager of the Hangzhou Tourism Center,

But travel volume to famous scenic spots like Xixi Wetlands and Songcheng Park has increased over the past two months.

So optimists expect the situation to improve.

The Radisson Plaza Hotel Hangzhou believes its business will soon kick off and Marketing Director Wang Jing says it has received a batch of orders from travel groups.

Travel analysts say Hangzhou is likely to get hotel business as most big Shanghai hotels are booked up.

"Hangzhou hopes to grab 10 percent of the expected 70 million Expo visitors," says Wang Xinzhang, spokesman of the Hangzhou Tourism Commission. He predicts a 14-percent increase over last year in the number of visitors to the city.

To achieve that goal, the Hangzhou Pavilion at the World Expo Shanghai hands out around 2,000 tourism coupon booklets every day to visitors; so far more than 60,000 have been distributed. The tourism commission plans to distributed 100,000 valued at 40 million yuan (US$5.8 million).

Pavilion director Wang Wenbin says 98 percent of tourists who received coupons said they plan to visit Hangzhou.

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