There had been little response from Shenzhen travelers to the four countries just opened to Chinese tourists, major tourist agencies said Sunday.

The new travel destinations available to Chinese tourists from Nov.1 are Portugal, Croatia, Cuba and Pakistan.

The agencies said people were waiting for the opening of 12 EU countries to Chinese tour groups.

Comfort, one of the city's big travel agencies, said it was planning a 20-member tour group to Portugal and Croatia but had no idea when the group would go as there were still many hurdles in obtaining visas.

According to China International Travel Service's Shenzhen branch, most Chinese and travel agencies were not familiar with the four new destinations. It would take some time for these to become popular.

(Shenzhen Daily November 4, 2003)