City app launched for tourists

An app giving tourists access to Shanghai's latest cultural and tourism resources and which allows them to book tickets was launched on Tuesday.

The app has information on culture, tourism, food, shopping, traffic and sports, and it uses 5G, virtual reality and augmented reality to display tourist attractions, food and transport in the city.

Using the app, tourists can book plane and train tickets, accommodation and entry to tourist attractions. They can search for restaurants and performances in the city. The app is also connected to the city's transport system with a QR code making this easier. 

Taxi hailing services and tours ranging from one to six days involving Shanghai and neighboring cities such as Suzhou and Hangzhou are also available.

An English version of the app, "Visit Shanghai," is due to be launched next year, said Bao Lei, president of Shanghai Tourism Tech Co Ltd, which developed the app. 

"It may take three months for its design, and other language versions apart from English will also be involved to better serve inbound tourists to Shanghai, enabling them to experience the glamour of the city," said Bao.

"Multilingual versions will not be simple translations of the Chinese version, but they will be designed based on the habits of tourists of different countries and we will make adjustments to pages from the Chinese version," he said.