Shanghai launches new city passes to boost tourism

SHANGHAI - Three of Shanghai's top destinations, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Wildlife Park, jointly launched a new city pass program Thursday to attract tourists from home and abroad.

Under the Shanghai Pass ticket system, visitors can book online one-, two- and three-day passes covering the three destinations with different prices for adults and students. They can scan QR codes to enter each of the destinations during the validity of their pass.

The new program will mainly focus on science popularization and knowledge acquisition as the city receives an increasing number of student visitors.

The three destinations also inked agreements with Ctrip.com, a Shanghai-based online travel agency, for further cooperation on marketing, activity-planning and communication.

Apart from discounted prices, the city passes provide more convenience for tourists, especially inbound tourists, said Xu Ting, secretary-general of the Shanghai Tourism Association.

Nearly 100 travel destinations have confirmed they will participate in the Shanghai Pass program and cooperate with Ctrip since June. According to statistics from the online ticket platform, 25 percent of the city passes were booked by inbound travelers so far.

Over 4.34 million inbound tourists visited Shanghai in the first half of 2019, according to the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.