Shanghai hotels pin hopes on upcoming Expo

BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai's hotels are banking on the upcoming 2010 World Expo to boost their currently downward business, Monday's China Daily reported.

The Expo, to be held next May to October, will likely be a big draw for both domestic and international tourists and is expected to attract more than 70 million visitors, including 5.5 million from overseas, to the city, said the report.

There were 325 star-rated hotels in Shanghai at the end of 2008,but the number will increase to 500 before the Expo, according to Dao Shuming, director of Shanghai municipal tourism administration.

"These star-rated hotels along with the city's 4,000 non-star-rated hotels will be able to provide 500,000 beds by 2010," said Dao.

Shanghai's hotel industry has been hit by the global recession and has seen visitor numbers slump for more than half a year. However, even with the current lackluster turnover, Shanghai may still need the new hotels to be able to meet demand for rooms during the Expo, said organizers.

"There is still an estimated accommodation gap on certain peak days when we could have 800,000 Expo tourists in a single day," said Hong Hao, director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.