Hotels gear up for import expo

Nearly 300,000 hotel rooms in the city are available for reservation for November’s import expo, Shanghai's cultural and tourism authorities said on Thursday.

The 291,600 rooms in 1,762 hotels have been released based on their distance from the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) in Qingpu District, venue for the second China International Import Expo, and other factors. 

Sixteen hotels, with 4,000 rooms, are within 2 kilometers of the center. Another 90 are between 2km and 5km away, providing 14,100 rooms, the administration said.

Last year, the administration recommended 1,711 hotels, with 256,607 rooms in total, for the first expo. 

"The number is approximately the same as last year," said Gu Jianbin, director of the market department at the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.

"The criteria is the same and we give consideration to the scale of hotels, which should have at least 80 rooms, and other factors like customer satisfaction and credibility record when releasing the list," said Gu.

“We include some big chain hotels and newly opened ones this year," he said. 

Shanghai Vice Mayor Zong Ming told a preparatory meeting for the tourism industry on Thursday that the city’s culture and tourism industries should gear up for the expo, ensuring the release of accommodation information, quality services, stable prices and information on tourism and shopping.

The rooms can be booked online via Ctrip and Meituan-Dianping and will be listed on the expo website. Visitors will also be able to find details of bus routes and other expo-related information.  

Hu Min / SHINE