Shanghai Daily news

World Expo Shanghai organizers have signed a sponsorship agreement for hotel reservation services for visiting workers during the six-month event in 2010.

HUBS1, a leading travel distribution marketplace in China, will provide hotel reservation services to staff of participating nations and companies working at Expo.

Organizers estimate that up to 10,000 workers from participating countries and international organizations will live in Shanghai during Expo.

Construction of an accommodation community, Expo Village, at the east end of the Pudong New Area Expo site began in February last year.

It will provide a range of accommodation options.

However, Zhu Xiangang, deputy director of the Operation Department of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said other choices will be available if the village did not satisfy the visiting Expo workers' needs.

Zhu said these services were not targeted at the 70 million tourists expected to attend the event.

Teddy Zhang, CEO of HUBS1, said: "We will encourage hotels within a two-hour driving distance of the Expo site to join our platform."

According to Zhang, HUBS1's reservation system is available in Chinese, English and Japanese, with a French version to be launched soon.