With the flight MU5052 arrived in Shanghai Pudong International Airport on the morning of January 1, 2010, 60 tourists from South Korea were fortunate enough to become the first batch of inbound tourists in 2010. As the first batch of overseas tourists to China, they got a special welcome ceremony held by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and People's Government of Shanghai Municipality at Shanghai Pudong Airport. Officials, including Shao Qiwei, (Chairman of CNTA), Zhao Wen, (Vice mayor of Shanghai Municipality), Zhu Shanzhong,(Vice Chairman of CNTA), Wang Wei (Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipality), Dao Shuming (Director of Shanghai Tourism Administration ), Chen Xianjin (Deputy Director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination) attended the ceremony hosted by Liu Kezhi, the Director of Department of Tourism Promotion and International Liaison of CNTA.
Shao Qiwei firstly conveyed his New Year%26rsquo;s congratulations to friends from home and abroad. He said that the first batch of overseas tourists to China were mainly from South Korea, which is China's major source markets, he warmly welcomed more friends from South Korea and other parts of the world to come for World Expo Shanghai 2010. At present, the whole work is going well. It is estimated that 70 million tourists will visit the Shanghai World Expo, and 3.5 million of them are from abroad.
Shao Qiwei said that the grand World Expo Shanghai 2010 would be held in Shanghai this May. It is not only a platform for countries over the world to demonstrate their achievements in economy and culture, but also a platform to promote their tourism industry. World Expo Shanghai 2010 does not merely belongs to Shanghai but the whole world since there is one world, one home and one World Expo. He hoped that world tourism industry circles could establish closer cooperational relations through this occasion and further enhance tourism cooperation and revitalization of the tourism industry in East Asia.
On the welcome ceremony, Jv Zhenghui (transliteration), the representative of South Korean tour group, said it was really a pleasant surprise to receive such a solemn courtesy. He believed World Expo Shanghai 2010 would be organized as wonderful as Beijing Olympic Games, and he and his family would come back Shanghai again to experience the brilliance of the World Expo. Zhao Wen gave the tourists representative Expo mascot %26ldquo;Haibao%26rdquo; as a gift. The concerned officials from CNTA and Shanghai Municipality took a group photo with the first batch of inbound tourists after the ceremony. They were also invited to attend the launching ceremony of China World Expo Tourism Year 2010 and the major theme party %26ldquo;Walking into the World Expo 2010%26rdquo;.