Daily 12 March/März - ITB Berlin

ITB Berlin English Daily 2010 Friday 12 March XVII
healthcare travel programme. According to the Health Ministry, 374,000 foreign
patients sought treatment in Malaysia in 2008, ten times the number recorded in 1998.
Shanghai targets 70 million visitors to World Expo 2010
The World Expo in Shanghai, which runs from 1 May until the end of October, expects
70 million visitors, largely Chinese nationals. Just 5% (3.5 million) are likely to be
foreigners, according to the deputy director general of the bureau that is co-ordinating
the Expo.
Shanghai has been preparing for this prestigious event for many years, and has developed
a spectacular new site in the city to accommodate Expo’s pavilions from all over
the world. Numerous new hotels are due to open in time for the mega-event, among
them the revamped famous old Peace Hotel on Nanjing Road (now under Fairmont
management), the Peninsula (created on the site of the former British Embassy on the
Bund), the Ritz Carlton Pudong, a Gran Meliá and another Marriott. Shanghai says it has
over 6,600 hotels, and it anticipates about 500,000 people a night will be staying in the
city during the Expo. There are signs that room prices will go up, say the tourism
authorities, particularly at the budget level, and there are fears there will room shortages
at weekends. A homestay scheme is being tried out for the first time in the city.
Meanwhile, a second terminal at Hongqiao International Airport opens this week. Other
developments at Hongqiao International include a new 3,300-metre runway and various
supporting facilities for cargo, air control and fuel supplies. When the US$1.5 billion
programme is completed in 2015, the airport will have capacity for 40 million passengers,
and Shanghai’s two airports will be able to accommodate 100,000 million
passengers a year. The city’s second cruise terminal (at Baoshan) is also due to open in
time for Expo.
Hainan – a major international tourism destination by 2020
A surge of new tourism projects are under discussion for China’s southern island of
Hainan, which has been singled out by central government for development as an international
tourism resort by 2020. A document outlining the Chinese Government’s plans
was first released in January and has been followed by numerous announcements of
initiatives, consultancy projects, development programmes and impending changes to
the legislation.
In fact, China’s attractive southern island, with 1,500 kilometres of coastline and a
pleasant sub-tropical climate, already attracts international visitors. There are a growing
number of international flights to Sanya and Haikou, and several major international
hotel brands are either already operating, or developing, resorts – Holiday Inn, Inter-
Continental, Crowne Plaza, Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, Marriott, Mandarin Oriental, Shangri-La
among them. But parts of the island are overwhelmed by growing numbers of domestic
holidaymakers and low-cost international groups, and facilities and infrastructure are
simply inadequate to cater to the fast-growing demand. Domestic visitors at this year’s
Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), for instance, were up by over 30% on 2009,
according to Hainan’s tourism authorities.