Sixty-one-year-old Beijinger Zhang Qikun spent his weekend with his family in Shenzhen, a booming south China city about three hour's flight from Zhang's home in China's capital.

Enjoying himself in Shenzhen's thronged Happy Kingdom, a Disney-like theme park, Zhang said now that the SARS crisis was over, no one had to stay home for fear of the epidemic.

Tourism in Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong Province hit hard by the SARS outbreak, is quickly recovering from the shock. According to Chi Xiongbiao, director of the Shenzhen Tourism Bureau, since the sector was re-started all-roundly on June 1, the number of visitors to the tourist attractions in the city has risen to some 70 percent of the figure in the same period of last year, and average rent ratio of hotels has climbed to nearly 60 percent, with a few hitting 90 percent. During June, Shenzhen received more than 3.3 million visits, up nearly 80 percent from May.

To attract more visitors and make up the loss incurred by SARS, major tourist destinations in Shenzhen such as Splendid China, the Window of World, and the Happy Kingdom, all theme parks under the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) Holding Company, have each staged celebration carnivals for the Summer time.

The Happy Kingdom, in addition, has kicked off in mid-July with an investment of 50 million yuan (about US$6 million) a high-tech and interactive evening gala show that is scheduled to run every evening for two years.

Zhao Xiaobing, assistant manger general of the Shenzhen OCT Happy Kingdom Tourism Development Ltd., said the company's statistics during the fist half of July indicates that the number of visitors has almost reached the level of the same period of last year.

Chi said Shenzhen has recently strengthened cooperation with tourist departments in Hong Kong and other parts of the Guangdong province and the number of visitors from Hong Kong and Macao is on increase. He added that his bureau would be dedicated to the promotion in both domestic and overseas markets during the latter half of the year.

The bureau's statistics show that in June, Shenzhen received over 1.75 million overseas visits, doubling the figure in May. Meanwhile, those from Hong Kong and Macao who spent nights in Shenzhen increased by 157 percent from May.

(Xinhua News Agency July, 2003)