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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