Travelers from home and abroad will enjoy better service provided by both the online and offline information networks developed by the Shanghai Municipal Information Office and the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission, the two institutions announced Friday.

Mei Jun, deputy secretary-general of the tourism administrative commission, said: "We have just completed upgrading www.shanghaitour.net, one of the earliest tourism websites, built by the municipality in 1998. Travelers now can obtain 30,000 items of information from the site in both Chinese and English."

Travelers can now make reservations for accommodation, flights, meals or even tickets to scenic spots on the website.

Apart from offering online information, the commission has established 22 tourist information and service centers located close to the most popular scenic spots and transport junctions.

Mei believes the centers are an inseparable part of the whole system of online and offline service, offering travelers more complete and detailed information and high-quality consultancy, free of charge.

If tourists are not satisfied with tourism-related services in Shanghai, they can go to the centers to make complaints.

Zhang Yue, an official of Shanghai Municipal Information Office, said about 200 touch screen systems are available in hotels, offering tourists maps with global positioning system capability, introductions to Shanghai's famous scenic spots and recommendations on the best routes to take to get where they want to go.

(China Daily March 3, 2002)