Representatives of travel agents authorized to conduct tours to the 2010 World Expo receive plaques.

Chen Xianjin, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, delivers a speech at the ceremony.

The World Expo 2010 organizer yesterday appointed the first 24 travel agents to organize group tours to the Expo.

The 24 agents include the China International Travel Service Ltd and five Shanghai-based agents - the Shanghai China Travel International ltd, the Shanghai Spring International Travel Service Ltd, Shanghai AirLines Tours, the Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center and the Shanghai Jinjiang International Travel Service Co Ltd.

Agents in Shanxi, Jilin, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan, Fujian, Hainan, Yunnan, Gansu, Shaanxi provinces, the Chongqing Municipality and the Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions are also on the list.

Representatives of these agents received plaques from the China National Tourism Administration and the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination yesterday in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province.