China lifts ban on travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand
30/5/2003 16:57
The National Tourism Administration has lifted the ban on package
tours to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, an indication that the Asian tourism
market is recovering, eastday.com reported today.
The move was expected
in light of the stabilizing SARS situation, according to many domestic travel
agencies. However, it still takes time to organize large package tours to the
three countries, the agencies noted.
China issued the ban on package
tours to the three countries at the beginning of last month.
Lifting of
the ban shows that the industry is on the road to recovery, said an industry
analyst.
The Beijing Tourism Bureau established a timetable for the
recovery of the Beijing tourism market yesterday, said Gu Xiaoyuan, vice chief
of the bureau.
From now to July 10 is the 'preparatory period' for the
recovery, during which Beijing, along with other tourist cities in Asia, will
introduce new products for individual travelers, package tours and business
trips, Gu said. They will also develop new products with Japan and South Korea
during this period, he added.
From July 11 to September 30 has been
identified as the 'recovering period', during which Beijing will focus on
promoting its tourism market to overseas nations.
From October 1 to
December 30 will be the 'flourishing period', during which the sixth Beijing
Tourism and Culture Festival will be held and the city's winter tourism market
will be promoted.
"However, the plan assumes that the World Health
Organization will lift its travel alert for Beijing on July 10," Gu said. "If
the WHO lifts the alert earlier, our schedule will be adjusted accordingly," he
added.
The Beijing Tourism Bureau has asked ten tourist cities in Asia to
work together to boost the Asian travel market and encourage people to travel to
each other's countries, said Yu Changjiang, chief of the bureau.
"We will
offer 20-30 new tourist products to attract overseas travelers in the near
future, with many promotions," Yu said.
The world's top ten travel
enterprises will be encouraged to establish wholly-owned travel agencies in
Beijing, which will attract large numbers of overseas tourists, Yu
added.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
|
