THE total revenue of the city’s tourism industry was about 26.9 billion yuan during the first half of this year, increasing by 12. 86 percent compared with the same period of last year. The total number of tourists reached 21.73 million, increasing by 11.85 percent on last year.

    As the first half of a year is normally the off-peak tourism season in the city, a series of promotional activities have been launched, such as theme activities, and put on promotion advertisement on other TV stations, such as China Central Television and Phoenix TV in Hong Kong.

    Since this year, the number of tourists from Hong Kong, Maocao, Taiwan and other areas in Southeast Asia has increased sharply.

    In the first five months, there were 43,000 tourists from Taiwan, increasing by 26.33 percent than last year, while the number of Hong Kong visitors has reached 55,000, increasing by 30.67 percent. Tourists coming from countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have increased in number by at least 100 percent. According to the city’s tourism bureau, there are nine flights between Qingdao and Taiwan cities every week, transporting about 1,800 visitors a week.

    (Wang Yuanyuan, Fu Jun)