Tourists signing up for a package trip to Europe during the peak summer period should expect to pay about 1,000 yuan (US$130) more this year than last, as a reduction in the number of flights between Shanghai and the continent is pushing up air ticket prices, according to local travel agencies.

 

Austria Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines have canceled direct flights from the city to Vienna and Copenhagen this year, creating a shortage of seats, according to Ctrip.com, a major online travel company.

 

"The problem is that flights offered by other companies may not be enough to go round, as many tourists would have chosen Vienna as a flight transferring point if the flight hadn't been canceled," said Dai Yueting, a public relations manager at Ctrip.

 

He noted the cost of a flight from Shanghai to London is now 20 percent higher than normal due to the increase in demand.

 

Prices for package trips to Europe usually jump by 400 to 800 yuan during July - the busiest season of the year - but they will climb even higher this year.

 

Trips to Tibet, another popular destination, should be better managed and more convenient this year than last as more quality hotels have opened in the region and there won't be the same mad rush to visit the area when a new railway line opened last summer.

 

"Last year too many people rushed to Tibet as the railway to Tibet just opened," said Zhou Hui of Shanghai Odyssey Travel Agency, which specializes in Tibet tourism.

 

"The accommodation and tour management was rather disorderly from July to September, but this year the situation will be much better, as the Tibet tourism authorities are now regulating the tourism markets along with travel agencies."

 

(Shanghai Daily June 13, 2007)