SHANGHAI: With 70 million visitors likely to attend the Shanghai World Expo, local authorities are expecting tourism revenue to exceed 300 billion yuan in 2010, up by nearly 50 percent from last year.

"Tourism revenue will contribute to 9 percent of the city's GDP, and make tourism one of the key pillars of Shanghai's economy," Dao Shuming, director of the Shanghai municipal tourism bureau, said at a press briefing yesterday.

And there are already some positive signs.

Dao said the city's hotel occupancy rate - a key measure of inbound tourists - surged to 65 percent last week, the highest level since the industry was hit by the global economic downturn last year.

"Although it (occupancy rate) was lifted largely by big international events like Shanghai Auto Show, we do expect a gradual rebound of the tourism industry in the run-up to the expo," he said. Inbound tourists to Shanghai fell by nearly 4 percent year-on-year in 2008 in the wake of the economic recession, peaking at the biggest monthly drop at nearly 20 percent in December.

Dao said the World Expo is also boosting significantly the city's infrastructure and tourism service capacity, as well as regional integration with the neighboring provinces.

Statistics from the city's tourism bureau showed there would be about 500 star hotels and 4,000 hostels in operation in Shanghai by 2010, with an estimated accommodation capacity of 500,000 beds.

The neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces will also offer 150,000 beds in addition during the Expo.

Tourists will also find at their convenience a public service system that involves other cities in the Yangtze River Delta, so that they would be able to travel freely within the region without too much trouble, Dao said.