A real-time multilingual interpretation system to help tourists break language barriers was launched in the city over the weekend, and it is expected to be used at scenic spots, restaurants and guesthouses.
The app, called TourTalk, provides an interpretation service in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and Thai.
TourTalk will be used when overseas tourists in Shanghai encounter communication problems with local people when they get lost, or in other situations like taking taxis, shopping, dining, and touring around the city.
TourTalk has recruited 1,000 interpreters who will give "face-to-face" assistance to tourists via video chat.
The system is expected to be used first at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Yuyuan Garden, two big scenic spots in the city, in the second half of this year.
Tourists are already able to scan the app's two-dimensional code on China Eastern air flights to Shanghai.
"As independent travel is gaining in popularity, some tourists are eager to have a try but they are hindered by language barriers when traveling in a foreign country," said Steve Chang, chairman of Cyber Group, the developer of the system.
Shanghai received about 8 million inbound tourists last year, and 6.5 million stayed overnight, a rise of 1.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administration, which oversaw the development of the app.
It expects 8.15 million inbound tourists this year.
The US, Japan and South Korea are the top three top sources of overseas tourists to Shanghai, the administration said.
