Tours to Europe
9/3/2004 17:26
Despite frequent promotions from European countries, local travel agencies
and tourists are still waiting for approval from the National Tourism
Administration to organize package tours to Europe, the Shanghai Morning Post
reported today.
As no circular has been received from the National Tourism
Administration, travel agencies in Shanghai cannot advertise travel itineraries
of the 12 European countries.
Whether or not local tourists will be able to
travel to Europe by the weeklong Labor Day holiday is still up in the air, said
an industry analyst.
Tours to the West region of France were advertised in
Shanghai yesterday, but up to 60 percent of local travel agencies were not
represented.
"As no package tour prices are available yet, such tourism
promotions are not meaningful to us," said a spokesman with a local travel
agency.
"Since China signed a tourism memo with 12 European countries at the
beginning of the year, we haven't received any official circulars for organizing
package tours to Europe," said a spokesman with the Shanghai Tourism
Administrative Commission.
If no such circular is available by the middle of
this month, time is tight to arrange tours to Europe by the Labor Day holiday,
said Wang Yan, supervisor with the outbound department of the Shanghai Airlines
Tours.
Anxious tourists in Shanghai are also complaining about the delay.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
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