Guangdong Turning Tourism around

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Guangdong Turning Tourism around

Guangdong Province, the nation's top tourism earner, is again leading China as it pushes to emerge from the devastating impact of the potentially deadly SARS virus.

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Guangdong Province, the nation's top tourism earner, is again leading China as it pushes to emerge from the devastating impact of the potentially deadly SARS virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) removed Guangdong and Hong Kong's SARS travel warnings last week, providing the opportunity for the province's tourism sector to bounce back.

"It's time to break the stalemate in the province's travel industry,'' Guangdong Provincial Tourism Administration Chairman Zheng Tongyang said Tuesday.

Business at travel agencies in Guangdong had been cut off at the knees over the past two months, after the WHO issued the travel warning on April 2.

Almost all of the local tourism agents were facing the prospect of closing to try and ride the SARS storm out.

In April, the province's total foreign currency revenue only reached US$100 million, a 74 per cent drop compared with the same period last year.

The total revenue for April was US$325 million, down 68 per cent compared with 2002.

However, in its bid to turn the situation in around, the province which pioneered package tours to Hong Kong, Macao and overseas is again showing its forward thinking.

Sufficient preparations had been made to resume the mutual package tours between the province and Hong Kong and Macao once the ban was lifted.

Tourism groups that suffered under the shadow of the disease are expected to benefit from a Guangdong provincial bureau fund by the end of next month. The bureau has earmarked 400,000 yuan (US$48,193) for each in-bound agency and 1 million yuan (US$120,481) for every in and outbound business enterprise.

According to Zheng, a new travelling tide is swelling and all visitors to the province can expect a "spring breeze, sunshine and a charitable heart."

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