More than 400,000 overseas tourists visited Shanghai during the first three months of this year, up 15 percent from the same period last year, the city Tourism Administrative Bureau said.

The sharpest increase was from Taiwan, skyrocketing 77 percent over a year ago, reaching 58,418, bureau officials said. Foreigners accounted for 72 percent of all visitors, up 7 percent. The others came from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

The visitor surge meant higher occupancy at Shanghai's hotels, bureau officials said.

In March, the city hotels' average occupancy rate was 72.8 percent, 7.6 percentage points higher than March 2000. Five-star hotels had the highest occupancy rate, 78.5 percent.

But the average room charge fell 5.6 percentage points from the previous year, due to moderate price cuts by two- and three-star hotels, officials said. Five-star hotels, however, raised their room rates by about 15 percent. Bureau officials did not provide the actual figures - just percentages.

Tourism officials released their data on Saturday at the Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents convention.

"We see Shanghai as a huge, modern metropolis," said the group's Ken Chang.

(Eastday.com.cn 05/14/2001)