Japanese and Korean tourists attracted to Shanghai Expo

In the first month after the Shanghai World Expowas opened, it received up to 380,000 foreign tourists, of which about 27 percent are Japanese and Korean tourist groups, with Japanese tourist groups accounting for 19 percent, according to a survey from a third party organization entrusted by the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration.

Many designated travel agencies for the World Expo in Shanghai said inbound tourists have multiplied compared with the same period last year. "Three-night and four-day Expo tours are most popular, with over 90 percent of tourists visiting because of the Expo. These tourists will also visit the Yangtze River Delta," said a travel agency official.

Among the current tourists visiting the Expo received by Shanghai CYTS, 85 percent are Japanese tourist groups, followed by German and American tourists.

July and August will usher in the summer holidays and many designated travel agencies for the Expo said judging from the current booking conditions, family-based individual tours have begun to increase. "There were only 1,800 Japanese individual tourists touring Shanghai during the last summer holidays, but judging from the current booking conditions this year, the number of tourists will double to more than 3,600," said Zhong Xin, assistant general manager of Shanghai CYTS.

Starting in September, Shanghai will also usher in another wave of overseas tourists. For example, the booking volume of Shanghai CYTS in September equaled the total number of tourists for July and August.