Shanghai will create six national-level tourism areas centered around Sheshan, Dianshan Lake, the Bund and the Dongtan wetland by 2020, a highlight of its target to build a world famous tourism city, authorities said yesterday.
Shanghai received 8.5 million inbound tourists last year, a rise of 6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administration.
Among them, 6.8 million stayed overnight, up 4 percent.
Travel agencies in Shanghai organized 5.9 million outbound tourists last year, a surge of 50 percent from a year earlier.
Shanghai aims to receive 8.65 million tourists this year.
The six areas include the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone in the Pudong New Area, the Sheshan Tourism Resort in Songjiang District, the Dianshan Lake Tourism Resort in Qingpu District, the Bund-Yuyuan Garden-Xintiandi historical and cultural tourism area, the Dongtan wetlands ecological tourism area and the China cruise tourism development trial zone in Baoshan and Hongkou districts.
In addition, seven suburban parks will be opened, and nine countryside tourism belts will be developed by 2020.
By 2020, the city is estimated to receive about nine million inbound tourists a year, with an avenue of 500 billion yuan($72.46 billion).
