An international tourism fair will be held on Wednesday in the capital city of eastern China's Shandong Province, announced Yu Fenggui, vice director of the provincial Tourism Administration on Monday.

Vice mayor of Jinan Wang Tianyi told Xinhua that the fair will adopt the pattern of fair plus forum. Travel agencies from the United States, Germany, Austria, Canada and Thailand have booked 26 exhibition pavilions.

Some 4,000 domestic and international travel agencies involving more than 10,000 delegates have registered for the fair.

The forum will focus on the theme of tourism development in the 21st century. The keynote speakers will be officials from the World Tourism Organization and China National Tourism Administration, and professors from Beijing University.

As a leading tourism province, the income from tourism accounted for 4.8 percent of Shandong GDP last year.

Jinan reported 4.3 million tourist arrivals and over 3 billion yuan (about US$ 361 million) in related revenue in the first half of this year.

(People's Daily 09/05/2001)